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AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOXOctober 16, 2018Steve PearceJackie Bradley Jr.Houston, Texas - postgame 3 Red Sox - 8, Astros - 2 THE MODERATOR: Questions for Steve Pearce and Jackie Bradley, Jr. Q. Steve, given that you grew up a Red Sox fan, I imagine you daydreamed at some point about hitting a go-ahead home run in a playoff game. How close did that feel to what you thought it might? STEVE PEARCE: It felt great. I'm not going to lie. I'm just glad it stayed fair. It was really close and timely. So, yeah, we'll hopefully keep the ball rolling. Q. You've been a new addition to this team. To be able to contribute the way you have and to have that moment, what does it mean to you? STEVE PEARCE: It means everything. These guys made it a lot easier for me when I came in here. Being in the AL East for such a long time that I played against these guys for so long that I knew them. I just had to get a chance to learn their personality. And these guys have been great to me from day one and they make it enjoyable for me to show up at the park every day. Q. Steve, could you go over that sequence with Joe Smith? STEVE PEARCE: First pitch, fastball. I saw it really well. And I was hoping I got another one and I did. I didn't miss it. The first one that I hit off the wall or not off the wall but the one that Kemp made a great play off of it, I missed that one. And thankfully I didn't miss the second one. Q. Jackie, in such a close game, how big was it for you to be able to come through there with the grand slam? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: It's huge. We're playing a really good team in Houston. Runs are at a premium. We never feel like enough runs is going to be enough. So it was very, very special for us. STEVE PEARCE: His teammates loved it. I'll tell you that. Q. Jackie, Alex was in here before saying he thought those two wins at Yankee Stadium you guys kind of grew up as a team winning those two games and kind of contributes to what you did today. Is that how it feels? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Honestly not even thinking about that series at the moment. Just trying to get our focus on this series. Obviously you have growing pains and you go through things in previous series that helps you hopefully make an adjustment to this series. But I'm excited to be here and I'm glad everything's working out so far. Q. You guys have won three games on the road in the postseason so far. What do you think's allowed you to be able to do that as a team? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: I think just focusing on the present, not getting too far ahead of ourselves, turning the page each and every single day and executing. Q. Jackie, you're 1-for-17 in the regular season with bases loaded. What's allowed you to come through these last two at-bats and turn that around? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Putting good swings on good pitches. That's pretty much it. Q. What did you think of Nate tonight, and were either of you fired up by Bregman's Instagram post yesterday? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Nate did amazing. He's been like the unsung hero, coming in and just filling up the zone with strikes with all his pitches, and taking it deep into, deep into the game, allowing the bullpen to rest a little bit. He's battled since pitch one and it's been a lot of fun playing behind him. STEVE PEARCE: I was going to say the same thing. It's very enjoyable. You can tell when he's on early. And even throwing strikes and he throws 97-plus on every pitch and it's cutting, and he's keeping hitters off balance and he's very enjoyable playing behind. And as far as the post, not worried about it. Q. Did Chris Sale pop up for the introductions? And was he saying anything in the dugout during the game because you hadn't seen him in a couple of days? STEVE PEARCE: He's a great teammate. He has a presence about him when he's in the clubhouse, and he fires everybody up. We just want him to get better and get back out here. Q. Jackie, Alex talked about how he felt really good about you since you kind of, he said "unplugged" halfway through the year. What do you remember from that time period when you had some time to work on your swing? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Just continue to grind. Obviously you're working on things, but once the game starts, you've got to go out there and compete. You can't focus on what your hands are doing, this and that. But just try to go out there, compete, do the best you can and see what happens. Q. Did he recommend that to you halfway through the year? How did it play out that way? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: It just happens. I felt like I was hitting balls hard right at people at the beginning of the season. Second half of the season I got some balls to fall in. So it's just, I guess, that big of a switch. Q. Jackie, you watched Osuna hit back-to-back hitters. He was obviously a little off tonight. As you're looking at a 1-1 count, what are you looking for in that particular situation? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: For a pitch up in the zone. Obviously you said he hit two batters. And they had been attacking me in all series long -- in, down, kind of out of the strike zone -- so I was trying to see a pitch up in the zone that I could handle, and I got that pitch. Q. All season you've maintained even throughout your career just the same steady, even-keeled temperament, I guess. Especially early in the year when you were struggling to now, even when you hit that grand slam, there's not too much emotion or anything like that rounding the bases. What I guess lends to that? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: I've never, I guess, really been, I guess, over-the-top of -- I heard this saying from one of my coaches back in the day. He said, "No one should ever know whether you're winning or losing. Kind of keep the same temperament. That way it will allow you to put some perspective into things." And I kind of took that to heart. And I never get too high and I'll never get too low. Q. Steve, did you know right away that that home run was out? And for Jackie, you called Nate an unsung hero. Would you say Steve is an unsung hero for you guys? STEVE PEARCE: I knew it was going to leave the yard I was hoping it would stay fair. I hit it really well. And, yeah, I guess that was the question, right, if I knew it was gone? Yeah. I was hoping it stayed fair the whole time. JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Absolutely. We've got a lot of unsung heroes on this team. Everybody's contributing. Ian coming over as well. These guys have been special additions. They've been great additions. They've helped us along this season. And we're excited to have them. Gamecock, too. STEVE PEARCE: Yeah. Q. What coach said that to you about never letting you know if you're winning or losing? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Donnie Brittingham. Q. Where did he coach? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Prince George High School. Q. For you, the fact that you had the slump early in the season and came out of it, did that make it for you, that you don't worry as much about slumps because you know that they happen and you do come out of them? JACKIE BRADLEY JR.: Yeah, you're going to go through it. I guess the thing is I'm not afraid to fail. I just don't want to fail a lot. I want to fail less. I want to be more consistent than I have been. So I'm just continuously working as hard as I can to continuously get better -- and fail less. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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