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NL DIVISION SERIES: NATIONALS VS DODGERS

October 4, 2019

Dave Roberts

Los Angeles, California - postgame 2

Nationals - 4, Dodgers - 2

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. You guys struck out 17 times today. What do you have to say about that?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, Strasburg was very good tonight, obviously. He was, fast ball played, located it, and he went to his curve ball. I think he used his curve ball half the time tonight. He was getting ahead all night and putting us away with that. And really I think Clayton and Beatty probably took the best swings against him all night long. We just really couldn't put anything together against him.

Q. Were you surprised to see Scherzer in relief?
DAVE ROBERTS: I was, yeah, we weren't expecting that. Obviously it was a big game for them to play for the split in the series or on the road. So probably a bullpen day. So, yeah I was surprised but obviously they have the option of using him Game 3 or Game 4 now.

Q. I know last October wasn't Cody Bellinger's best. He's still looking for his first hit this October. Just what are you seeing from him right now and then could fatigue be part of this?
DAVE ROBERTS: I don't think fatigue's a part of it. I think he's in a really good place, the way his body's moving. I think right now you're looking at two games, where the last night's game I thought he took really good at-bats and had two good walks and obviously punched twice. Tonight I just think tonight Strasburg, he was good against everybody. So I think that right now for Cody, I think he's seeing the baseball well. For me, it's too small of a sample.

Q. What have these first two games told you about what to look for for the rest of the series?
DAVE ROBERTS: Obviously when you deploy Scherzer in Game 2, they're going to play every game to the end and use whatever part of the roster they have. They trust their starters. They're going to rely on their starters. For us, I think we just got to keep taking good at-bats. And I think today is one of those nights that Strasburg was going to pitch well against any club tonight.

Q. In your experience what's the most extreme use of starting pitchers that you've seen in terms of bringing them back quick. The 2001 World Series is one, but in your experience.
DAVE ROBERTS: I think we saw that last year in the World Series. The way the Red Sox used their guys, that was probably as aggressive as I've seen it.

Q. Did Dustin have the same crispness out there that he had had late in the regular season?
DAVE ROBERTS: He did. It was coming out, it was the 97, 98. And he got a big out on a soft grounder to Kendrick. It was a big out. And throwing three or four pitches, whatever it was. And I loved him in that part of the order. I thought he threw the baseball well.

Q. Why did you think Clayton struggled early like he did?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think early I thought, yeah, they were taking some good swings. I thought obviously the grounder that got by in that first inning. But I thought Clayton did a good job of limiting damage. After that I thought he threw the ball pretty well, I really did. But those guys were taking good swings and putting together good at-bats. It's a grind, the pitch count got up early. But I think Clayton to save our pen, and as you look out, our high leverage guys, a lot of our guys that we look to are rested. We're ready for Game 3. But for him to give us six innings was big.

Q. Are you concerned at all that your hitters are chasing so many pitches out of the strike zone?
DAVE ROBERTS: Certainly not ideal. I thought we did obviously a better job last night. But, again, when -- we haven't seen Strasburg use his breaking ball as much as he did tonight and so I think that typically he's fastball changeup and the breaking ball was sharp. We just didn't see it well. So it's one of those things I don't want to look too much into tonight. We're going to have a different arm for Game 3, so we'll be ready and I'll be certain we won't punch 17 times.

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