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AL DIVISION SERIES: YANKEES VS RED SOX

October 6, 2018

Alex Cora

Boston, Massachusetts - postgame 2

Yankees - 6 Red Sox - 2

Q. What did you see with David tonight? How tough was that on you guys?
ALEX CORA: Location. 0-2 or 1-2, back-door cutter to Judge leaves it over on the middle of the plate. Back-door cutter to Sanchez, he was leaning out over the plate and he extended. And McCutchen got on top of a fastball.

It's all about location. We can elevate, we've been talking about the whole season, when it's in the same plane. It seems like the velocity was very in the same range as far as like his pitches, they take advantage of it.

Q. Alex, what made Tanaka so effective against you guys?
ALEX CORA: We expanded tonight. His split was a lot better. He made some pitches early in the game, and compared to the last one that we had against him, we were very disciplined in New York, and not tonight. We expanded and he did a good job. It seems like when we had him on the ropes when the counts were in our favor, he got back in the count and he threw a split or a slider and we expanded.

Q. Given David didn't throw too many pitches tonight, will he be in the bullpen for you going forward?
ALEX CORA: We'll talk about it. Today there was some good effort there, Joe and Heater. So we'll see where we're at. We'll talk to him tomorrow and we'll make decisions accordingly.

Q. Alex, how disappointing was the Eduardo three-run homer that he gave up? And also not covering first base?
ALEX CORA: Yeah, I'm going to talk to him about it. It seems like he went for the ball and then he slowed down. I haven't talked to him about that play.

2-0 change-up, he swings and misses. We try to come in and he missed right down the middle. Sanchez is a guy that fastballs down in the zone he crushes. He didn't miss that one.

Q. Alex, how do you envision using Price in the rest of the series? Is he going to be available out of the bullpen later?
ALEX CORA: We're going to talk about it tomorrow see where we're at. We extended Joe today and Heater, too. We'll talk to him and see where we're at and we'll go from there.

Q. Are you confident using him again, though?
ALEX CORA: Yeah. Today, like I said earlier, back-door cutter right down the middle to Judge. And then actually the pitch to Sanchez was down and away, but he was leaning out there, got the head out and hit it out of the ballpark. And then McCutchen got on top of the fastball.

We'll make adjustments. Like I said yesterday, it takes 25, 26, 27 guys to keep moving. He's part of what we're trying to accomplish and we count on him.

Q. Continue along those lines, would you consider keeping David Price in the bullpen throughout the postseason?
ALEX CORA: No, no. He's one of our starters. Just a bad outing today. It just so happened it wasn't his day. He didn't make pitches. We trust him. He's bounced back before. We'll talk to him to make a few adjustments. And we'll go from there.

Q. You talked about how ideally your team likes to get length from starters. That's kind of how it's built. How tough is that to do in October when it becomes such a bullpen game, it seems like, everywhere?
ALEX CORA: I mean, like with them they went -- Tanaka went five innings. We're good with five, six innings. We feel that obviously our strength is the rotation. But as you saw today, we were laboring tonight. We almost pulled it off as far as the 27 outs and only giving up three runs.

There was some good efforts. Joe he took a step forward. Actually Heater gave us those two innings. We'll reset tomorrow, and we'll talk about the starter on Game 3 tomorrow. See where we're at with Rick and Nate. And hopefully it's a good solid start, and we'll go to the bullpen and we'll be in good shape.

Q. Alex, what's the situation with Mitch Moreland?
ALEX CORA: He felt tight rounding third. I think it was his right hammy. He's down there in the treatment room. Tomorrow he'll go to Yankee Stadium, and get treatment and let's see if he's available for Monday.

Q. Is this something you're worried about having to replace him on the roster?
ALEX CORA: Not really. Just the situation right there we have to take care of him before it gets something worse. You know Mitch, he never wants to come out. He'll go out there and then he'll sprint somewhere and he probably could be worse.

Q. Is Porcello a possibility for Game 3?
ALEX CORA: Those two, Nate and Rick. We'll talk about it tonight and tomorrow and we'll make a decision. Have a good night.

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