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NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: NATIONALS VS CARDINALS

October 12, 2019

Dave Martinez

St. Louis, Missouri - postgame 2

Nationals - 3, Cardinals - 1

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

DAVE MARTINEZ: This is Dave Martinez.

Q. What did you see from Max today, obviously, a brilliant performance and how hard was it, was it a conversation like when you decided to take him out?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, he was dynamite. I mean his stuff was good, his changeup was really good today, utilized it well. Fastball was good. He was locating his fastball early in the count, so he was good. The conversation was not as hard as I expected. He was, he said he was pretty much at his limit and I figured that at about a hundred pitches or so he would be good and, you know, if we get to the 7th and we would have Huddie and Doo. By conversation today, I knew that we need to get an out from Corbin or two, he was available.

Q. Did you have deja vu at all, I guess, with the no-hit bid again and how many pitches for Doolittle kind of convinced you that it was time that you had to use Corbin?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, I mean yeah, he pitched yesterday. When he gets to that 20, 22-pitch mark I think for Doo, after going two days in a row, that's plenty.

Q. The Eaton at-bat, were you at all interested that Wainwright was still in there after Eaton had had a good history against him? And also can you talk about Michael Taylor a little bit, both his home run and the ball in center field that he missed?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, for Eaton, I mean, hey, Wainwright was really good today, really good, as he typically is. His breaking ball was really good, he was locating his fastballs. I think Eaton just put a really good at-bat on him. I mean he struggled throughout the day with the breaking ball and that last, he got the count to 3-2 and was able to squeak a ball by Goldschmidt there. It was tough today to see, it really was. A lot of guys were talking about it. And then when it got really dark there at the end there, you saw Eaton come in on a line drive that almost went over his head. And then Michael did the same thing. So they had a tough time seeing the ball off the bat.

Q. A lot of us have, just don't know what to make of baseball in the shadows in October. Was today extreme because it was so bright sunlight and such a high sky and that?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Yeah, it was tough. It was really tough. As a hitter, when I played, when it was like that and the guy had a good breaking ball, you didn't see it. It was tough to see, it really was. You had to bear down and try all kinds of stuff. Eye black, put your helmet lower, anything to be able to see the ball. But it was tough.

Q. You guys are 2-0 now heading home for 3. I know you take everything one game at a time but you probably couldn't have scripted this, I guess, any better. What's the sense as you guys get ready to go home?
DAVE MARTINEZ: No, hey, we're going home, playing in front of our home fans. It's kind of nice going back up 2-0 in the series, but those guys are really good over there. The series is far from over. We got a day off tomorrow, we're going to spend the night, get a good rest and work out tomorrow for a little while, and then get back at it the next day.

We got Stras on the mound, so hopefully he comes out and gives us what he can. And hopefully he does what Sanchie and Scherzer did the last two games. But we still got a long way to go. My message after the game was still, hey, 1-0 every day.

Q. After Game 5 in Los Angeles on Wednesday Patrick mentioned how appreciative he was that you trusted him again in the relief appearance after how things went in Game 3 in DC. How important for you is it to not go away from your guys. I know there are strategic moves but also is there part of it that you wanted to show him that you still did trust him in a spot like that?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Absolutely, that's a big part of it. That these guys have to learn, they learn how to bounce back, that we're not going to give up on them. We jokingly, when I went out there, he looked at me and made a comment, he goes, I think I can be a good left on left specialist. I go you're not quite there yet. (Laughter.)

But he came in and got a big out for us. That was a big, for me that was a big out, keeping Wong off the bases.

Q. Are you getting a sense of kind of how unusual it is to have a pitcher take a no-hitter into the 8th, a no-hitter into the 7th, a guy back from paternity leave to save the game, the manager leaves to go have a heart procedure a few weeks ago. It's getting to be a really long list of unusual things.
DAVE MARTINEZ: It sounds like a book. But yeah, I mean this year, this year was definitely not scripted. I mean we have been through a lot and I'm proud of the guys sticking together and we're at a good spot right now. So they're having fun. The biggest thing is they're having a lot of fun, they're enjoying it. And I tell them, hey, take every moment in, because I played for 16 years before I got a chance to play in the playoffs. So it doesn't happen every day.

Q. To follow-up, we never or don't ask enough how are you feeling and these are supposed to be even more pressure games, how are you coping with it?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Thank you, that's nice of you. But I feel good. I mean these last couple days who needs a stress test? I mean, yeah, I'm getting one every day. So, but, yeah, I'm doing really, really well. Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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