NL WILDCARD GAME: DODGERS VS CARDINALS

October 6, 2021

Mike Shildt

Dodger Stadium

St. Louis Cardinals

Postgame Press Conference

Dodgers - 3, Cardinals - 1

MIKE SHILDT: It was a heck of a baseball game that everybody got the chance to watch, two really good teams going at each other. Hard fought the whole way. No quarter was taken, no quarter was given, really.

Yeah, it was a nice -- I can count the whole game if you want, but just in general, hard fought game, dangerous guys on both sides, kept them at bay, kept us at bay, and then one swing of the bat dictated the night.

Q. (On the block by Bellinger.)

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, listen, it was a part of it. Gio, we wanted him the middle part of the order. Came out and had a nail issue that prevented him from going back out. You know, appreciate the way he went through the eighth, again, part of the order. Came in, just has been a recurring thing with some of our guys.

We sent him back out knowing he wasn't going to pitch, and then we know they're going to burn -- we make him burn a guy with Lux, and we got McFarland in there, keep him on the ground. It's uncomfortable at-bats. We know they're going to go to Albert and Sosa, but we wanted a guy that's going to be around the plate, on the plate, got through those two guys, and Bellinger got away from us.

At that point it's not a -- Taylor is really good against lefties. He's got a guy that's on the ground a lot. We've got a guy with swing and miss stuff. We've got a guy, a little higher strikeout against righties, so we got an advantage.

The first couple sliders were really good, and then he got one he could put a swing on. That was the game.

Q. What's the feeling like for Alex right now, who's had such a great year coming back and was so string for you for so much of the season?

MIKE SHILDT: I'm sure. Look, we've got a clubhouse full of guys that are hurting, Alex included. This team didn't come here just to play, this team came here to win and move on and take down our 12th world championship. That was the investment of our group since day one of Spring Training, so it helps. Alex is hurting. When I talked to him about it and gave him a big hug, like I did everybody on the club, was -- we're not here without Alex Reyes, we're just not.

He had his bumps and made adjustments the second half. Got some huge outs for us obviously in the first half. Set a Major League record for 24 saves. Made a little adjustment in the second half of the season, but came up huge for us. Was multiple times, the first one comes up in New York, extra innings. This guy has pitched really well for us right here towards the end, and he's hurting.

I just told him, hey, man, you walk out with your head up. You've got a lot to be pleased about with this year. The message to the club, you've got a lot to feel good about and you've got a reason to hurt, too. The hurt is what motivates you to move forward.

I don't want that hurt to overcome you, either, because there's too many positive things happening with Alex and this club to walk out with anything but their head up.

Q. How much does this one game that required so much tenacity and so much grit that your team has displayed all season long kind of play into wrapping it all up in one game?

MIKE SHILDT: I said it right before the game, our team has got guts, man. Our team is talented. I want to represent this team as just a ream of -- because it is, it is a team of guts and grit and all the positive things that you can say about makeup and perseverance and persistence and belief in yourself and belief in your brother.

That's all important, too. It's also a talented club that once we got healthy and got the parts in the right place, I feel like we obviously could compete with anybody.

It was on display tonight. This is what this team does. It plays smart, it plays hard. There's a lot of good winning plays on both sides of the ball, and we played a really good team and fought, scratched and clawed, held everything together in a tough environment, which I love. Our guys, there's not one guy on our club that I felt like reacted to an environment that was -- actually we loved it, loved the fact that it was however many people in the yard tonight, 50,000 or so. Pretty big little stadium you've got here, and getting after it and enjoyed it.

But not one guy backed down from any of it. Just played. That's a great sign of winning players and winning team. Just came up short.

Q. You had chances earlier in this game, a number of times --

MIKE SHILDT: Oh, yeah, we had our chances. Yeah, for sure we had our chances. I thought we did a good job obviously in the first. We were opportunistic at ever turn. Pretty much like we were all season. We get there, and right off the bat we take advantage of it.

And Eddie Reed's baserunning was big for us right in the first. We get a bag, put the ball in the dirt, got a 1-nothing game. Take a bag later. Did all the little things.

But we had opportunities. We put up a lot of good at-bats on Scherzer and got him before we could complete the fifth, so we got in their bullpen, which is really good.

It's a good club. By the way, congratulations to the Dodgers. Good for -- congratulations.

We took great at-bats against Scherzer, had some chances, just couldn't get that real big hit to give us that lead.

Q. (No microphone.)

MIKE SHILDT: Not necessarily. We were going back and forth. Always get Yadi's feedback, especially with Wain-o. Trust Wain-o. We talked it over before the game. Some of you guys and ladies have asked about what's great about him. There's a lot of great things about Wayne Wainwright, but one thing is he gets better as the game goes.

Early in the game gets a feeling for his stuff makes still make pitches. Got the big double play ball to Turner. That was huge. You trust a game like that.

And then he goes back out and he's got a little higher pitch count, he's got some rest behind him. Obviously he's taken the ball a lot this year. We weren't necessarily going hitter to hitter, but Justin Turner got him earlier in the game, and frankly, that was a matchup that I didn't particularly like for him because he's not a high ground ball guy.

And so went out, he gets Mookie, and he walked -- gets a single rather and he walks Trea. At that point, with the fifth he earned a sixth because in the fifth he started to hit a stride, quick inning, everything was crisper, but as soon as Trea got on, I don't think it was the most popular decision. Probably made for good TV, but made the decision. The fresh arm, get him in there on the -- got him on Justin, got out of it, got a clean seventh.

Typically would ride with Wain-o, but felt like at that point he had almost emptied his tank and got a different guy on him. But I thought Adam was tremendous. Came up after me, he goes, I could have got out of two. I said, I believe you could. There's no question about it. But he gave me a big hug. I thought Adam was fantastic in a big moment.

Q. (On fifth inning.)

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, the fifth was clean, big game pitcher, let him go out. He can take an at-bat, give you a quality at-bat, set him up for the sixth. Like I said, as soon as he walks Trea, that was it for me. Went with a fresh arm.