	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

NL DIVISION SERIES: BRAVES VS DODGERS

October 5, 2018

Dave Roberts

Los Angeles, California - postgame 2

Los Angeles - 3, Atlanta - 0

Q. Got to ask you about the deke with Clayton in the ninth, sending him out and then making the change?
DAVE ROBERTS: It's just more forcing Brian's hand. If they would have brought Duda up there to face Clayton, he was going to face him. But for them to burn two players for one move, I felt that that was a way that you can use their two best hitters off the bench and get our guy in there.

Q. Dave, how much consideration did you give to letting Clayton finish the game tonight?
DAVE ROBERTS: Not a whole lot. You know, he took a ball I think in the sixth inning maybe, off the hamstring, and so as the game progressed, it continued to tighten up a little bit. And so for me, I thought -- obviously he had really good stuff, but then as you get to the 6th, the 7th, and the 8th inning, and understanding that the potential that it is tightening up, I felt we had a pretty good option in Kenley back there.

So right there -- yeah, again, if we had the matchup, I was going to go with Clayton for another hitter, but as far as finishing the game, I didn't think too much about it.

Q. Dave, what do we make of eight innings, 85 pitches, three strikeouts? In your mind, what were we looking at tonight in terms of who Clayton is and what he may be becoming?
DAVE ROBERTS: He pitched. He pitched. I think that it was one of -- for me, one of the best outings that I've seen that I can recall, in the sense that he used his complete repertoire of pitches. He used both sides of the plate. He changed eye levels effectively. And he really pitched.

And so with that, there was a lot of soft contact. He was in complete control. And it was really -- you know, you got Sandy Koufax in the front row, and you've got Clayton. He was outstanding tonight.

Q. Given all the distractions of this week, was this even more impressive he was able to put all that aside?
DAVE ROBERTS: It is impressive. It's not a surprise. This guy is a potential Hall of Fame player. So to have the noise around him -- but when it comes to his day to start and to help his ball club win a game, I had no concern that anything was going to affect him. And our decision, I think there was -- a lot was made of it, but I think that I feel good, we feel good that we put both those guys in the best position to pitch well.

Q. Did he try to plead his case to finish the game?
DAVE ROBERTS: No. No. He didn't. And I think that he understood the way I was thinking. And I understand that, you know, it's great to finish a game, and every pitcher that starts a game wants to finish a game. I absolutely understand and appreciate that. But our goal is to win 11 games. And so I just felt that it was the right decision, and Clayton is 100 percent on board with what we're doing, and he wants to win a championship.

So in my opinion this gives us the best chance to get him ready for his next start and us to win that baseball game.

Q. Machado obviously had that big home run for you in the first inning. Since he's kind of moved into that cleanup spot, I think with maybe about a week and a half left in the regular season, he's given you some good production there. What do you like about him in that spot and these type of pressure situations?
DAVE ROBERTS: Number 1, it just poses a matchup problem for the opposition, putting Max against a lefty, David Freese in the three. You look at where Machado is hitting in the four, the three guys in front of him are high on-base guys. So there's a high probability that he's going to hit with somebody on base. And so when you take somebody of his caliber, if you do that and he can pop one, then it could change the game, and that's what happened tonight.

Q. Does Manny typically have the green light there on 3 and 0?
DAVE ROBERTS: I want him to swing right there, and I was hoping he'd get a fastball that he could handle, and I trust that if it's in the strike zone, then he could slug it. And so I can't recall what Buck did with him, but here in the right spot, I feel good about certain guys swinging 3 and 0.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297