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AL DIVISION SERIES: RAYS VS ASTROS

October 4, 2019

AJ Hinch

Houston, Texas - postgame 1

Houston - 6, Tampa Bay - 2

Q. A.J., what is it about Justin that he gets better as the game goes on, consistently?
A.J. HINCH: I don't know. We've talked about this every start, every year for him. He's got an incredible instinct for the moment. He leaves some gas in his gas tank at the end of his outings. He never wavers off his game plan until he has to. Like a good sprinter, like at the finish line, he's going to win. He's going to win the race at the end of his outings.

It's so hard to take him out of games like that, because he punches out a side. I wanted to take him out no matter what. But watching him finish like that, he has a good sense for when the finish line is coming. Both he and Gerrit are two of the best I've ever seen in baseball doing it.

Q. How do you think the experience advantage you have in postseason games plays out? You play a dozen games that have this feel, you grind guys down. They haven't been here.
A.J. HINCH: We're comfortable. I can't speak for them. That's their club. I think we're comfortable with what we do in big moments. I think we've been that way. If you look at our players, the pulse, the heartbeat, we have it. Whatever that is, that comes with experience, that comes with being in big moments, these are important games. It's nice to feel comfortable, but you still have to go out and do it. It doesn't get you to hit 99 any easier. It doesn't get you to turn the double plays that we turned any easier.

It makes for you coming to the ballpark comfortable in your own skin in a big environment with a lot of attention.

Q. A.J., Jose Altuve has hit a home run in every opening game, I guess, in the postseason the last three years. With the team that you have, so many superstar players, it's kind of easy to forget what he is and what he's meant to you guys all these years.
A.J. HINCH: No question.

Q. To get that first home run, what was your reaction to it?
A.J. HINCH: We were having really good at-bats at the beginning of the game, and mostly with two -- getting things started with two outs. And then just breaking through with the big swing for Jose doesn't surprise me. It's like clockwork, every ALDS it seems like he busts out with a really good game.

I want to talk about his defense too. Those double plays he turned were really, really impressive. But, you know, again, he's been our guy. He was here before any of us are here. He's one of the original Astros when it was a little lean around here.

I think that it's easy to have the new kids come up and the new guys come up and the World Series heros. He's just been doing his thing every year. He means so much to this team. He's the heart and soul. We need a little bit of something from everybody. But it seems like all's right in the world when Josey's in the middle of what we're doing.

Q. A.J., how big was it for your guys to tack on whenever they had that error after the home run?
A.J. HINCH: The original part is getting out in the lead. In a playoff game, two runs feels like four runs. When you get the extra opportunity and they make a mistake, and we're a tough team to make a mistake against and get away with it. I thought our guys did a really good job of continuing that.

We ran the bases well. We just kept tacking on to make the lead grow and to make the stress in the other dugout real. I think it's part of our nature, it's kind of how we operate. When we're 1 through 9, we feel really good and everybody participates and everybody contributes.

But to tack on runs, we talk about all the time, is just don't let off the gas pedal. You never know when enough is enough.

Q. A.J., you said that Justin has a great feel for the moment. Feels like he's especially good in October moments. Do these kinds of games define an ace in a way that regular season games don't, especially in this case?
A.J. HINCH: Not everybody gets the opportunity so you can define aces in a lot of different ways. He's a star. Like he's a Hall of Fame pitcher. So we're going to look back and be very proud that we crossed paths with him.

But yeah, this is part of it. I mean, when you can execute at your best in the biggest moments, I mean, there's nothing -- there's not a higher league. Like there's nowhere for him to go to be tested any further. So the test is really being able to do it start after start and then postseason after postseason.

Hopefully, it's World Series after World Series. And I don't know how to define it. I don't know what it's called. Whatever that "it" factor is, he's got it.

Q. How important is it for you guys to continue to be aggressive on the base paths, effective with stolen bases?
A.J. HINCH: It was part of our strategy today. We felt like if we could put some pressure on them in some opportune times, we were going to be able to manufacture some runs too. This is not a pitching staff that you're just going to ambush and get away with it. We put the ball in play quite a bit as a team.

When we can start runners and create some havoc and distract the pitcher a little bit, that's an extra element that we have in our tool shed, so to speak, and we use it when we need it.

Against this pitching staff and against -- in certain counts and some of the balls, it's important to get to second base. Nothing feels more important than a single or a double with a guy on second and the tack-on run. Bregman's stolen base is huge. Yuli putting pressure on them was huge. George putting pressure on them was huge. It's not something we utilize until we have to. But it sure is nice to have it when you need it.

Q. A.J., in the fifth inning scenario, where you have Bregman matched up against a lefty, pretty much exactly what you envisioned when you constructed the batting order?
A.J. HINCH: When he thinks of it as a demotion, I love it. He wants to hit in the first inning so badly. We have a good enough team, he hits in the first inning quite a bit. That's the real dilemma for the other side. You want to save your lefty for Brantley or do you want to save it for Alvarez. You've got MVP right in the middle of it.

So I think that's the idea is to make it really difficult. Bregman steals a couple of left-handed at-bats. They try to sneak their way through. It's hard to get by Alex Bregman, right or left, but especially when he feels like he's, you know, he's got a little bit of an edge.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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