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MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS DODGERS

October 28, 2017

Alex Wood

Houston, Texas - postgame 4

Los Angeles Dodgers - 6, Houston Astros - 2

Q. Did that feel like pretty much the first half of the season, the way you pitched tonight?
ALEX WOOD: Yeah, it's hard to put into words really right now. I needed a win and I was glad to keep us in it long enough to where our bats came alive. That felt like us there those last few innings.

It's a big win for us. We've got our guy going tomorrow, so we're excited to be able to take it back to LA, too.

Q. How did it feel to hold them to that level of batting?
ALEX WOOD: Yeah, they're an incredible lineup, truly. Their plate discipline and slug, on-base, everything. So we felt like we had a good plan going in, and just kind of came down execution. Me and Barnes were rolling pretty good the whole night. And glad it worked out.

Q. You talked about going into that Chicago start, your first postseason start, how comfortable you felt. In a World Series start when you're out there, was it a similar feeling?
ALEX WOOD: It was a little different today, especially when you go down 2-1 yesterday. You start to feel it a little bit last night. So I tried to get as much sleep as I could, and woke up and tried to have a normal day. But once we got here, and I started going over my scouting report and do everything that I do normally, started to calm down a little bit. And you just kind of get ready and let the emotion take over, and go out there and try to give us a chance to win.

Q. Were you thinking about how many hits you had given up once you got pulled there in the 6th?
ALEX WOOD: Yeah, once I was heading into the 5th, I kind of thought about it a little bit. It's been a whirlwind of emotion for me. Kind of caught up to me between innings there. I believe in fate, and I believe everything happens for a reason. And a lot of things, my parents got engaged on this date almost 30 years ago. My best friend's eight-year anniversary of his accident, getting paralyzed, my fiancÃ©e's birthday today, I always truly believe in God's timing. And I'm just happy it went the way it did.

Q. How did the sleep go last night?
ALEX WOOD: Not a lot, but I tried to stay in bed for a little while. So I kind of relaxed and just kind of let my mind chill after a little while. I knew today was going to be crazy.

Q. What is it like just trying to calm yourself and get locked in when you know the enormity of the moment?
ALEX WOOD: It's tough, especially when you're sitting in your hotel room. The nerves were going. Your mind is racing all day until you head to the ballpark, and you finally get here and throw your clothes on, and go and watch the video and write up your scouting report, and take all the time to do that stuff you normally do, and it starts to chill out and focus on the task at hand. And then the fun part starts at 7:00.

Q. Throwing a no-hitter, and then the first hit you give up, you come out. You were pitching great. Do you just figure that nowadays you've got a good bullpen, so you probably won't be able to go deep in the game and just sort of accept that?
ALEX WOOD: You can't really control -- none of us can really control that. And plus if we're going to hand the ball over, it's nice to hand it over to Brandon Morrow in that situation; he's been unbelievable. Our whole bullpen has. I thought it was a whole team effort top to bottom, and it was a really good win for us.

Q. First of all, talk about your approach against -- going against Altuve, Bregman, and the first four in the Astros lineup, your approach to pitching against them?
ALEX WOOD: I won't get too far in detail. But facing those guys and really their whole lineup in general, you have to execute. If you don't execute, they're going to make you pay, as you've seen a little bit throughout the series so far and watching them all year. They're a special lineup. It takes one pitch to change the game with any of the guys in their lineup.

I was happy with the way we executed tonight, and we had a good game plan, and I credit Barnes for calling such a good game.

Q. Such a good duel between you and Morton. He was doing the same thing. Did it take you back to any other big games you might have pitched, in college or any other level where you're putting up zeroes and the other guy, too?
ALEX WOOD: Yeah, for sure. A little different circumstance tonight. I just try to stay in the moment and stay focused on what I'm trying to do. The innings were rolling pretty quickly there the first four, five, six innings. It kept us both of us locked in, a little bit of a groove. He was special, too. They don't get much better stuff than that, watching him zing 97, 98 sinkers in there with his curveball. It was a lot of fun to watch.

Q. I understand you don't want to divulge the inner secrets of the game plan, but is it something as a team you guys carried into the series or did you make some adjustments and seeing some things for the first three games against the Astros?
ALEX WOOD: I think collectively as a pitching staff you have a solid basis of info in how you want to go and individually attack those guys. And starters are a little bit different, they give us a little bit more leeway in terms of coming up with a plan and approach and discussing, deciding how we want to attack their hitters. And then it comes down to execution, truly. And so I thought we had a good game plan and we executed tonight.

Q. What does it mean for the team when you go this deep in the game with the way the relievers have been used previously?
ALEX WOOD: Yeah, I think everybody was talking yesterday about our pen being burned or tired or whatever it might be. We haven't really had to work too hard, so far in the playoffs, our bullpen hasn't, truly. They've been absolutely nails. And so we had to use a lot of guys yesterday, but I think our guys felt really good. They feel confident and everybody kind of wants the ball. It's kind of the mentality we've had.

Q. What was it like to see Cody break out of that in that situation?
ALEX WOOD: I mean, every day you see him grow a little bit more. He's been getting frustrated a little bit this series. They have a great staff, starters, relievers. And so to see him break through out there was awesome.

I think everybody kind of had the same message with him, "We believe in you. You're our guy. You're special, remember that." And he went out there and hopped right back on the horse and had some big hits for us tonight.

Q. You mentioned those dates and all of those significant events, or that date, this date. Not all of those were great events. You talked about your friend's injury. And what assured you or what sense of calm did you get that this date would be special for you?
ALEX WOOD: I don't know if it was so much a sense of calm, just a lot of emotions. I usually don't get too emotional, but just the culmination of all of those things together. There's a lot of important people in my life and events, good and bad, that have happened. And just it taking us to this point today is just really awesome, for sure.

Q. Likely your last start, but if this thing goes on, are you looking forward to maybe going down there in the pen with the boys in games 6 and 7?
ALEX WOOD: For sure. I'll try to get ready as fast as I can. If we go to seven games I'll be ready.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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