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MLB WORLD SERIES: NATIONALS VS ASTROS

October 22, 2019

Dave Martinez

Houston, Texas - postgame 1

Washington - 5, Houston - 4

Q. Interesting that you followed the pattern of your pitching decision by throwing Corbin in today. Is that going to be something prevalent throughout this series as it has been in the other ones? Max, could you throw him an inning tomorrow or would you wait to the next day? You're going to be using your guys as much as you can.
DAVE MARTINEZ: For me it's about playing one game. And that's what we focus on, is just worry about the game at hand and then go from there.

This is stuff, like I said, based on conversations I have with our guys and what they can do and how they feel. I don't foresee Max coming out of the bullpen. I don't. We need him down the road again.

But Corbin had a bunch of days off. It was his bullpen day again so I was just going to try to utilize him if we had to, and he came in and did great.

Q. Were you always going to go with Corbin for just one inning or how did that all sort of play out? And what was sort of your best-case scenario for Rainey, too, how did you want to use him?
DAVE MARTINEZ: For me it was all based on how long Max can go. And Max, kudos to him. He gave us everything he had today. Those guys are good. They don't chase. And they're good hitters. He gave us everything he had. And as the game was rolling along and I started watching Max's pitch count, I knew that there was going to become an inning that we need to use Corbin. And now all I wanted to do was pitch him an inning.

And Rainey has been so good for us. I thought he threw the ball well, I really did. I just finished talking to him and said, Hey, you'll be back out there tomorrow if we need you. Keep your head up. You got a big out for us, and it was a big out. Keep your head up and let's go.

Q. Pitch count is something that was happening, but the game was tied. What was the decision point when you said he's got to get out there, when did you decide this is going to be it for Max?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Like I said, it's based on a conversation I had with Max. I really felt, I was watching him, and like I said, they don't chase much. His pitch count got up there. First inning he had a lot of pitches but he battled. And I thought that he was good. Like I said, we need him to pitch again.

And he's endured a lot this year. For him to keep us in that ball game was huge. And going out there and finishing that fifth inning was huge.

Q. Not that Soto was in a slump, but didn't have a great series against the Cardinals. The two balls to the opposite field, is that something he normally does when he's kind of battling a little bit?
DAVE MARTINEZ: I mean, that's Juan being Juan. He has to hit the ball all over the field. He's really good at staying behind balls and hitting the ball left center field, left field. And he was really good tonight. He worked on it. We talked about this earlier, one night he sat in the cage and hit for a while and just wanted to work on just staying on the ball and going the other way.

My biggest thing with him, and I tell him all the time, is take your walks. Put yourself in a good position to hit and take your walks. But when you get a good pitch to hit, be ready to hit it.

Q. How appropriate was it for Zimm to hit the first home run for the Nationals ever in the World Series? That seemed to get you going. What was the reaction in the dugout when he did it?
DAVE MARTINEZ: They got excited. And I'll be honest with you, my eyes got a little watery for him. He waited a long time to be in this position and for him to hit that first home run and put us on the board was awesome.

Q. Gerrit Cole hasn't lost a start since May 22nd.
DAVE MARTINEZ: He's really good. (Laughter.)

Q. Did you expect honestly to be able to pull this out given it's been five months since he lost a start?
DAVE MARTINEZ: Look, as I said, he's really good. I never doubt our guys, ever. They come out to play. We have a game plan, they stick with it. Sometimes they don't go well, but I believe in those guys in there every single day. And they're going to come out and play and not give up until the last out.

Q. Congratulations on the opening win. I wanted to ask you, when I got here late, I hope you haven't been asked this already. The history of this team, Montreal, Washington. This is obviously a historic moment. Can you talk about what this means in the historic sense for this team?
DAVE MARTINEZ: It's huge. They waited a long time to get to this position. I'm super happy that I'm a part of it. We're elated to be here, really. The city, the fans, we've got the Capitals wearing helmets playing the game, they've got name tags up there with the big W on there. The city is going crazy.

What can I say about it? And I'll keep going back to those guys in the clubhouse. I mean, I'm just a tiny piece of the puzzle. These guys, what they've gone through all year long, I'm super proud of them. And we come here to Houston, who's got a really good team, and we play good baseball and we end up winning the game.

We've got to do it again tomorrow.

Q. Having used Corbin today, does it mean it's likely or a fact that Aníbal will start Game 3 in Washington?
DAVE MARTINEZ: After this press conference I'm going to sit down and talk to Pat, talk to Paul, and just see where we're at.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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