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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DODGERS VS BREWERSOctober 12, 2018Josh HaderLorenzo CainBrandon WoodruffMilwaukee, Wisconsin - postgame 1 Milwaukee - 6, Los Angeles - 5 Q. Woody, Craig just said he's never seen you like that before. Your trip around the bases and then when you got back in. Could you just talk about what was going through your mind when you realized you hit not just a home run but kind of a tape-measure home run off Clayton Kershaw? BRANDON WOODRUFF: It's something obviously coming in the day you don't know in your wildest dreams that that's going to happen, to be able to get an at-bat off Kershaw and hit a home run. But you know, I rounded first, and once I knew it was gone, it was just one of those kind of moments where you're not really thinking, you know, and I was just letting some emotion out. You know, it was a cool moment, and I was happy that I could just go out there and do it for the team. Q. Brandon, it seemed like when you were -- after you rounded first, you kind of looked back a little bit. Do you remember what you were looking at or anything like that? BRANDON WOODRUFF: I was just trying to look at the whole bench and just trying to get them fired up. You know, obviously in the postseason, a lot of things can happen. I thought that that was a big moment to kind of get the guys going, and I guess that's the reason why I turned around and was just kind of going crazy a little bit. But yeah, just trying to rally them up. Q. Josh, when you get an at-bat, you obviously know you're going in for another inning. Most pitches you had thrown all season. What were you feeling like as that inning was coming to an end? JOSH HADER: You know, just get back out there and get outs, gotta give it my all, give 100 percent to put the team in a good position to stay in the lead. Q. Looked like, Brandon, when you took off the helmet, there was some sort of mark that maybe looked like it wasn't fitting properly. Was it your helmet or somebody else's? BRANDON WOODRUFF: No, it was mine. I think it comes from my hat. My hat's a little tight, but I've had it all year so it's comfortable to me. Q. And in terms of a career highlight hitting a home run off Kershaw ranks where? BRANDON WOODRUFF: Yeah, I would say that's probably right up there at the top. Q. Lorenzo, your night was kind of book-ended by a really good play in the first inning, and then that near play in the ninth. On the play in the ninth, it looked like it was right in the palm of your glove. Can you just walk us through that? LORENZO CAIN: Yeah. I was more frustrated I didn't catch it more than anything. I gotta make that play. I pride myself on making plays like that. Yeah, frustrated I didn't catch it. As a whole, as a team, we did a great job tonight. Q. Brandon, I'm curious what led you to start hitting left-handed. I assume you've been doing it most of your life if not all of it, but why from that side? And also, you were quite a hitter in high school, I'm sure you've been telling some of the guys. Will they believe you now? BRANDON WOODRUFF: You know, it's natural. I've always hit left-handed. It's just something I've always done, so there's nothing like I've picked a side. I've always hit left-handed. So it's always been comfortable to me. And, you know, I never really talk about that. I just, you know, I was just trying to go up there and make him work and throw a lot of pitches, and just happened to put a good swing on one. Q. Lorenzo, you were on deck but, Josh, you were in the bullpen. What is the scene, what is the reaction when Brandon goes deep there? Can you paint a picture for us? LORENZO CAIN: Like he say, got everybody fired up. He was fired up coming around home. He almost broke my arm. If you look at the replay, it was a pretty strong high five. Yeah, got everybody fired up, ready to go, and I was hitting behind him and I was able to get on base as well. Got the team going, and that's exactly what we needed. JOSH HADER: Yeah, exactly. We were pumped up down in the bullpen. We got this little thing, that's bullpen rakes. Seems like everybody that comes out of the bullpen they can swing it. Suter got a home run. Woody is hitting homers. Seems like everybody -- I mean, Jennings got a couple -- I actually think he got a double. I mean, it seems like all the guys can just swing it well. And on our end it gets us pumped up, gets us fired up. Seeing Woody take that at-bat and take it deep and get us in the ballgame, put us back in the game. It's the postseason, every run that we can get it matters. Q. Lorenzo, after kind of a slow start to the DS, you kind of come out firing on all cylinders here in the CS. I know baseball is a game of ebbs and flows. But for you, do you feel anything different tonight in this game, and how big is it for you to get going as a leadoff guy like you did? LORENZO CAIN: Yeah. It was huge. I scuffled early, the first few games against the Rockies. I know I need to be on base as much as possible. I have really good hitters behind me. Just gotta find a way to go out there and get done. Had a great night tonight, but at the end of the day gotta show up and do it again tomorrow. Q. With you guys sort of bullpenning your way through the series tonight, might not be unusual that you guys each might come out of the bullpen and get an at-bat. How much do you practice hitting and how much do you work on it and how much do you actually like hitting? JOSH HADER: I personally do not get any at-bats, no practice at all. I do not like hitting. That's why I became a pitcher because I couldn't hit a fastball or a curveball. Now I figured out I can't hit a changeup. But Woody over here he was getting some swings earlier. BRANDON WOODRUFF: I did. I took some BP earlier today. It's not a thing where I necessarily want to go hit. We have to practice it. As starting pitchers, you know, you have to hit. Mostly bunting. That's what we work on. But I don't know, it's just one of those things, I mean, I just go in there and try to put up a tough at-bat. Q. Josh, it sounded like from what Dave Roberts was saying he took some solace from testing your bullpen, scoring some runs off the bullpen and almost pulling that game out. I guess you guys look at it exactly opposite that you held them when you had to. Your viewpoint? JOSH HADER: Yeah, we won the ballgame. That's the end accomplishment right there is getting that win first game of the postseason of the championship series. So it's huge, especially against this team. Q. Brandon, I hate to belabor this, but it's what we do. I assume you're looking fastball at 2-2. You had seen a curveball earlier. You were taking a pretty good swing on a fastball. But I assume you were looking fastball? BRANDON WOODRUFF: I was. I knew he threw the curveball and he buckled me pretty bad. I had no chance. And I don't know how I didn't swing or why I didn't swing, and I just thought -- and my thought process was, you know, I just figured he wasn't going to mess with that pitch again to go to 3-2 because he didn't want to worry about getting into a full count with a pitcher. So I was just trying to look heater and trying to foul it off or put it in play and just got lucky. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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