NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 8, 2021

Craig Counsell

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 1 Press Conference

Q. Can you tell us when the Suter injury popped up? And just how much does it change your thinking about the bullpen to not have him available?

CRAIG COUNSELL: It popped up postgame on Sunday in LA. He experienced some symptoms of an oblique strain on a couple of pitches in the game. And so we're hopeful that we'd get him -- we gave him three days off and have him throw yesterday.

It's not ready yet. We're confident it will be ready if we get to the next round. But he needs a little bit more time.

Q. Did that change anything that you did or didn't do with your staff construction?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Gustave is on the roster because Suter is not.

Q. Nothing else as far as lefty, righty?

CRAIG COUNSELL: No.

Q. Do you feel comfortable with the left-hand situation? I know probably righties are more important against Atlanta, right?

CRAIG COUNSELL: It's a lineup with more righties. So I'm very comfortable with who we got. We feel like we have some relievers who are very effective getting left-handers out, some right-handers. They'll obviously be used in those situations. So I feel good about it.

Q. Carrying the third catcher in Maile, he had a small window with you. What about what he did impressed you enough that you thought it was worth carrying him for these huge games?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Couple things. I think it's, what -- Luke, probably the best thing he's done, he's shown us an ability to handle late-game catching situations. So I have full confidence and we have full confidence in putting him in if the game plays out in a way where if he's catching the ninth inning, or the eighth or ninth inning, really, really happy with Luke Maile catching. And the other thing it does is it allows us to be more flexible in how we use Manny as much as anything -- or a catcher as a hitter.

Q. You've been pretty creative over the previous postseasons with how you used pitching, in terms of getting 27 outs. Do you feel like it's less of a chance of that this year because your starting pitching has been so good -- you can let them go deeper? Is that your hope?

CRAIG COUNSELL: That's my hope, yeah. One pitcher would be great with us, yeah. We have different personnel. We have a different team. And we have starters that have been very, very good this year. And we want to lean on that. We will lean on that in the postseason.

Q. Do who you start in games 3 and 4 depend on how games 1 and 2 go? Do you wait and see, or do you pretty much know that you want to use righties like Peralta and Houser because of their lineup?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think it's what you do -- we're going to wait for sure. Freddy is going to be involved in one of those games. And I think the other game you just you see how it goes.

Q. Houser seems like such a good matchup against them because of that sinker, right? And he's done so well against right-handed pitchers.

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think Adrian is going to have a big series. He's an important player -- a very important pitcher for us this series for sure.

Q. What are your big-picture impressions of a guy like Charlie Morton, not necessarily what you think he's going to do in the series, just him?

CRAIG COUNSELL: Playoff-tested is probably the first thing that comes to mind. As he's gotten into his 30s, he's become almost better, I think. And he was -- a very talented pitcher, that it feels, as it's happening, more consistently now learning himself and then learning his health, and then that makes him just better. And he's had all these moments in big games that are helpful and make him better, too. So we've got a challenge ahead of us.

Q. Bradley hasn't had the season he probably wanted to have, but his postseason experience, being a guy who has been an NLCS MVP, how much confidence do you have for him being able to fill some sort of role?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think anytime you put together a 26-man roster, if you're going to win the World Series, everybody is at some point is going to have to do something great. And I believe Jackie will do something great in this postseason for us.

He's obviously had some huge moments in the postseason, and I think he's gotten a fresh start a little bit right now. I think that's great for him, too. So we'll see what happens or when his opportunity comes. It's always nice knowing that he's done some big things.

Q. You see Rowdy and Vogey both making starts in the series at first base? How will you make that determination?

CRAIG COUNSELL: I think we probably should go game by game here. So Rowdy is in there today.

Q. Just because we haven't seen it, Craig, is there anything in your lineup that's any different from a normal --

CRAIG COUNSELL: No. No.