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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS ROYALS

October 23, 2015

Ned Yost

Kansas City, Missouri - Postgame six

Royals - 4 Blue Jays - 3

Q. What can you say about what Wade was able to do there coming out basically sitting idle for an hour?
NED YOST: It wasn't quite an hour, but it felt like it was four hours.

You know, we knew that that rain was coming, they hit it right on the head. They said it was going to come around 9:55. Our plan in the eighth inning was hope to get Madson through the 8th right there, because we knew the rain would probably come, we didn't want to bring Wade in that inning unless we absolutely had to. But the plan was if anybody got in scoring position or two outs, runner on and Encarnacion, we were going to bring Wade in.

But Bautista ended up hitting a two-run homer, Encarnacion gets on, I got to bring Wade in the ball game right there just to hold it. I was hoping the rain delay, they told me it was going to be a 15-minute rain delay.

Wade got through it, then it was a 20-minute rain delay, 20 minutes to get the field ready, that's 40, 45 minutes. Wade did a great job coming upstairs to the weight room, getting a heat pack on his arm and shoulder, he was on the bike, he was moving around and playing catch. I kept checking with him, How do you feel, how do you feel? He said, I'm all right. I'm okay. But you get to 45 minutes and it gets a little nerve wracking there.

But we decided to send Wade back out. I looked at Holly and Holly said, Don't worry about nothing, Wade wants to go to the World Series, he's going to be fine. That gave me a little bit of comfort coming from a fellow closer. Even when he got a runner on third and nobody out, I knew Wade had that extra gear he finds in those situations, and boy, did he find it.

Q. With the decision to send Madson, if the rain hadn't been coming would you have just sent Wade for six?
NED YOST: I don't think so. Madson has been so good for us all year long. We would have started the inning with him. We were more than ready to bring Wade in if anything developed. He ends up getting an infield hit, gets an out, and then made a mistake on a pitch up in the zone, and Bautista kills those pitches.

But I think our plan was good. If a runner got in a scoring portion or two outs, and Encarnacion, we were going to bring Wade in.

Q. If it were 2-1, would that plan have changed in the 8th, you got that third tack-on run to make it 3?
NED YOST: It helped. That third run definitely helped. Again, I think we probably would have stayed with the same plan, because Madson has been so good for us all year long.

Q. Take us through the play, Lorenzo is at first, Hosmer hits the ball down the line. Jirschele made the read on the field.
NED YOST: He did his homework. And that was a huge send right there.

It worked because Hoz made a big turn coming around first base. It worked because Lorenzo Cain never slowed down. He didn't just take for granted that he was going to third base. And Jirschele knew that in those situations Bautista comes up and fires to second base, and he was waving him all along. It was a huge send by Jirsch. It worked because Hoz ran the bases hard and because Cain ran the bases hard.

Q. Did you know when they threw the ball to second?
NED YOST: No, I was watching Hoz because I thought Hoz was going to go to second. And I watched the throw and then I saw Hoz go back, and I heard the crowd scream and I turned and Lorenzo was sliding into home.

Q. Can you talk about the resilience of your team, the way they kept coming back.
NED YOST: This club has a lot of determination. We're facing the Toronto Blue Jays. They're dangerous in so many ways. You come into this game, you know you're hoping that your starter can get you through five, and Ventura did that. He started to labor a little bit at that point. Brought in Herrera, and he did a great job shutting down the offense.

Jose Bautista is a phenomenal hitter, you make a mistake and he does not miss it. They have an MVP in Josh Donaldson over there. A tremendous club over there. Their pitching is so solid. Gibby did a great job with those guys all year. David Price threw a great game.

We scored two runs on two hits. We couldn't bunch together any offense against him. But it was a huge hit that Rios got. Again, what a great Postseason he's had. And now get to play in his first World Series. But our guys just, from the first day of Spring Training their focus was to get back to the World Series and they accomplished that tonight.

Q. The Bautista home run is like a massive gut punch, I imagine, to you guys. Did the rain delay help, giving you guys a chance to regroup?
NED YOST: No, the rain delay was a pain in the ass.

Q. What was the mood in the clubhouse?
NED YOST: Everybody was fired up. Our club does not mind being tied late, because they know that our bullpen is strong, and they know that our bullpen will hold the fort until we can score a run.

And the mindset was, Okay, let's go out, score a run, we've got Wade for the ninth inning to close this thing out for us, and let's do it right here. It was an unconventional way to score a run, but that was Royals baseball. We did it on speed and athleticism, Osuna throwing97, 98 miles an hour to put a run on the board.

Q. Alcides just came in, he's the MVP, last year Cain is MVP, talk about the trade. I remember when you first announced, what they meant to you.
NED YOST: Both of those kids I knew from being over there. I knew Lorenzo Cain, I knew Esky. I used to bring Esky to Big League Spring Training when he was in A-ball, because I used loved to watch him play. For him to get the MVP this year is very satisfying to me. I've always known he was an MVP type of player in these type of situations. I'm excited for him.

Q. You've got a lot of emotional players on this team, but Mike Moustakas might be the most. Seeing him have a big night tonight, how gratifying is it for you?
NED YOST: Not so much gratifying, as more than just expecting him to have a big night, you know? Every hit that he's gotten in these playoffs has been a huge hit. He hasn't got a lot of them, but every hit that he's gotten has been a huge hit. And tonight I expected him to kind of do something special tonight, and he did.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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