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AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS YANKEESOctober 4, 2019Masahiro TanakaNew York, New York - pregame 1 Q. Masahiro, that Twins lineup obviously has a lot of power. What do you view as the most difficult thing in trying to navigate yourself through it? MASAHIRO TANAKA: I think just having confidence in every pitch that you throw and just to be yourself and really execute, I think. That becomes the key. If I'm able to do that, I should be able to rack up some outs. Q. Masahiro, you've had pretty consistent success in October. What is it about this time of year that brings out the best in you and that you enjoy about pitching with this kind of pressure? MASAHIRO TANAKA: I think, personally, I don't really view it in that way as to being very successful in October, but I guess I just will be reiterating what I just said, but it's about being yourself, being yourself on that mound and executing your pitches. At the end of the day, I think that's where it all kind of comes down to. Q. Masahiro, your numbers at home have been much better than on the road, especially this year. What do you think are some of the reasons for that? MASAHIRO TANAKA: Honestly, I haven't really thought about that, about being better at home and not so much away. I just go out there and try to give out the best performance that I have on that given day, but that said, I think you sort of feed off from the energy of our home crowd, and that may be something that kind of gives you a little boost on your performance. Q. Masahiro, earlier in the year when you were struggling with the control of your splitter, what were some of the things that you and Larry were focusing on in order to regain control of that pitch for you? MASAHIRO TANAKA: We tried everything. We looked at a lot of aspects -- mechanics, how I gripped the ball, all that. It was rough and tough because I wasn't able to come to a good sort of answer, really getting the good splitter back during the season. So it was a struggle, but at the end of the day, you keep trying. You work on your mechanics, on your grip, and you just keep on trying and trying, and I feel like towards the end of the season, I was able to really find that good splitter and get that back. Q. Just to follow up on that, are you saying that you do have the good splitter back now? And also, just to Sweeney's point, what did you learn, I guess maybe, about yourself or pitching through that process of not having the split for such a long time and just the kind of battle that you had to go through to get to this point? MASAHIRO TANAKA: So to answer your question, yes, I think I'm pretty confident in the splitter that I have right now going into tomorrow. Also, what I've learned through the struggles that I went through going into games without having the splitter, you actually have to go with a different pitch where you would be, say, throwing a splitter at times during the game. So you kind of had to be creative and really use all of your pitches except for the splitter. So that's kind of how to use your pitches, I guess, is what I've learned. But at the end of the day, I think going through all of that, it was a good experience for me. It will be a good experience for me. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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