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AL WILDCARD GAME: ATHLETICS v ROYALSSeptember 30, 2014Ned YostKANSAS CITY, MISSOURI Kansas City – 9 Q. Ned, did that game seem like it took 29 years to complete? NED YOST: Oh, man. No, that's the most incredible game I've ever been a part of. Our fans were‑‑ man, unbelievable. Our guys never quit. When we fell behind there in the fifth inning, sixth inning, they kept battling back. They weren't going to be denied. It was just a great game. Q. Can you talk about the running game, especially in the eighth and ninth innings, and just keeping the wheels turning there? NED YOST: Well, you know, we wanted to try to put as much pressure on them as we could all throughout the game. We tried to double steal there, I think it was in the first inning, and if we'd have run it right, we would have scored a run, but it broke down on both ends. Billy left way too soon. The play is supposed to be where Lester throws, Billy breaks to second and breaks down halfway, you draw a throw, you draw a throw. Well, Billy took off before Lester even delivered the ball and then Hos broke late. If Hos broke as soon as Billy broke, I think we would have scored a run there, but it broke down. But in the end we scored enough runs to win, and that run didn't matter. Q. Can you talk about the decision to go to Ventura, what your thinking was? NED YOST: You know, when we have these games, we map out our pitching, and we try to cover all scenarios. If something happens early we've got Guthrie. If we get it past the fifth inning, we're going with our power arms. We had the decision there between Ventura, Finnegan and Duffy. All three young guys. Ventura came into a game earlier this year and actually won it for us by throwing an inning‑and‑two‑thirds of relief. He was lights‑out, and we got to that point where we just wanted to bring the gas. We wanted to bring the gas for the sixth, we wanted to bring the gas for the seventh with Hererra, Wade and Holly with a one‑run lead and it just didn't work out. Q. So Hererra wasn't one of the options? NED YOST: No, we didn't want to push Hererra two innings. We didn't want to push Hererra two innings. As soon as Ventura got up, we had Hererra up warming up in case Ventura got two outs or started walking guys, we were going to by necessity bring him in. But got to a 2‑1 count on Moss and he ended up hitting a three‑run homer right off the get‑go, so that kind of negated that. We ended up getting in some more trouble, brought Hererra in with one out and he ended up getting five. Kel's sixth inning wasn't real smooth. He was much better in the seventh, but just one of those things. Q. Can you talk about Brandon Finnegan's outing? NED YOST: Phenomenal. You know, he came in and banged strikes, got two‑and‑two‑thirds innings right there, kept us in the game. I was hoping he would get his first big‑league win in a game of this caliber, but we had opportunities three or four times to score the winning run there from the seventh, eighth inning on. We just couldn't get that big hit until Salvie got that big hit in the 12th. Q. Obviously you're going to do everything you can and you did, but when you're behind 7‑3 to Jon Lester, just how dire of a situation is that? NED YOST: Well, your mind wants to think it's dire until our guys come in the dugout, and they didn't think it was dire. They were like, let's go, we've got this, let's go, we can do this, we can do this, to a man. It was impressive to hear the confidence that they had in their voice and the intensity that they had in their voice and the will that they had in their voice, and when they came in, I'm like, yeah, they're right. They're not going to be denied. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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