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NL WILDCARD GAME: GIANTS VS METS

October 5, 2016

Bruce Bochy

New York City, New York: Game Day

Giants - 3, Mets - 0

Q. Is there any way you can put Bumgarner's performance into words?
BRUCE BOCHY: No, I said that earlier. It's hard to put into words what he did for us tonight and what he's done for us. We needed him. This game was everything we thought. Two really outstanding pitchers going at it. It was all as advertised. Bum pitched very efficiently in the early going. They were swinging early and allowed us to have him there in the ninth inning.

But this is one of the best postseason games I've been a part of. It was so exciting. Great pitching. I've said this, if you create enough chances, hopefully you come through, and Conor came through for us. Sometimes you talk about the heart of the order, but usually it's somebody else that gets the big hit, and that's what happened tonight.

Q. Could you talk about Conor's personal journey to get to this point tonight?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yeah, it's been, I guess, a little bit of a tough road for him. He was starting there in Chicago. We had him earlier, and we thought a lot of him and brought him back here. Starts out in the Minor Leagues and works his way back up here. Here we lose Nunez and we needed help there, and he's done more than that. Not just with the bat, but offensively, but what he did tonight, he'll never forget that hit or will I or this whole club. He's just filled in so nicely.

Q. Parker up in the on-deck circle to hit for Bumgarner. When you get those runs, easy to send him out?
BRUCE BOCHY: I told Bum, listen, we score and you're still in there. But I've got tike a shot at it. I'll be honest, I was a littler nervous because Parker was there in the batter's box high-fiving him, screaming to get him out of there. I didn't want to put him in because Bum was hitting. But, sometimes you're forced to make a move. And his pitch count was getting up there a little bit to where I had to hit. But when Conor came through, that's a no-brainer.

Q. You've won three World Series and playoffs a lot. Is there any more confident feeling for you than seeing that guy on the mound?
BRUCE BOCHY: It's hard to have any more confidence than what we have in Bum, especially in a game like this. This is the second time on the road against a tough ballclub. And they've been hitting lefties pretty good, so we figured we needed a well-pitched game because their guy was tough. So it was all we thought.

And Bum just did his thing. We won the game because of him. It's great to get that big hit, but it starts with the pitcher, and that's what Bum gave us.

Q. The idea of Pagan bunting, was that to force the issue to get the run before Bum was involved?
BRUCE BOCHY: Yes, I was trying to get that run so I wouldn't have to hit for him, to be honest. It went to the option there with Angel, and he still wanted to bunt. You're facing a guy with good velocity. I know it's hard to pull the ball there, but I left it up to him. He still wanted to bunt, and when they got the strikeout, now you've got your work cut out.

I thought the walk to Panik was huge. He's got to throw strikes out there, and Hunter came through for us. With him coming through, it kept me from forcing my hand to get Bum out of there.

Q. You've been in this situation so often, what is the feeling going forward now knowing that you've done this this exact same path before?
BRUCE BOCHY: No, it's a great feeling to move on. All you want is a shot. We said that about coming here. We had to battle to get here. We had to play well in the last two series. Had to get a sweep there at the end just to get here, and that's all you ask. Just a shot. You never know with these guys. As you know, they find a way.

So we're looking forward to the next series, and it's good to be moving on, trust me because we had to scratch and claw just to get to this point. But it's all about persevering, and this club has done a great job of that.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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