AL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS VS WHITE SOX

October 8, 2021

Tony La Russa

Minute Maid Park

Chicago White Sox

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Houston - 9, Chicago - 4

Q. Tony, Astros obviously a very good hitting team. Today you played really good defensively as well. How tough is it to win a game when the margin of error is so small because of the way they're playing?

TONY LA RUSSA: Well, let me ask you a question. How many hits did we get? We had 11. They had 10. They are a good hitting club. We are a good hitting club. They made a lot of good defensive plays. We made a lot of good defensive plays. The score to me is very misleading.

We got hurt with some walks. We got some innings where -- that's one of the things they do really well. They have good strike zone understanding, so they'll take a walk, and walks hurt us. Except for those two-out hits, it's 5-4, and we've got a lot of several hard hit balls. The one that probably crushed is the one Yasmani hit to right center that Tucker caught and had a nice play on.

They were really good. I thought we played really well too, but they played better. Just enough.

Q. I'm just curious about the bullpen decision going to the two left-handers tonight, Bummer and Crochet, after Lucas came out. Obviously that section in the lineup has a lot of right handers. Just curious about your decision.

TONY LA RUSSA: The first right-hander, they have two of them right there in second and fourth that crush. You can see what Brantley does against right handers. He's lethal.

Our left handers can get right handers out. They've been doing it all year long, but they also get left handers out.

I thought, when we got out of that one, the score was tied. I think it was tied. Was it 5-4? I can't remember. It was well forced the rest of the game. You know, Bummer, it is my two cents, obviously, just what kind of hits did they get? They got ground ball hits. The ball Bregman hit -- but they hit the ball on the ground, which is what he pitches. One of the last two balls they hit was in the infield, and it was a double play. They put the ball in play. You've got to give them credit. I give them credit.

I give our club a lot of credit. We were right there. We played as hard as we could and good as we could. I like to walk in here second. Almost like first going first is for the birds.

Q. Tony, we talked all year about it's been a long time since you managed. It's been a long time since you've had your back all the way against the wall now in a playoff series. What does that just make you feel in your gut?

TONY LA RUSSA: I feel real good because of how we played today. Yesterday was a different looking kind of game. Today we came out, we had two leads. We hit balls, had a rocket at first base, and that starts the first inning. So I liked the way we played today.

One thing I'll never ever forget, I was sitting in this town in 2004. We had an off day, and I was watching from a restaurant when Boston lost their third straight game and turned to Franco and said, all we have to do is just win one game. When he said that, that's a good thing to say. It makes sense. They went 1-4. So we've got to win. This is a must win.

But take the attitude, the effort level, the talent we've got, and Sunday find a way to win. Then you're down one and win another one. So it could be done. I'd rather be in their position, but I know our club. We'll put together a winning effort hopefully. Hopefully, the score reflects that.

Q. With the ground ball hits that the Astros were able to get today, did you see them hitting away from the way you guys were positioned, or are there adjustments that need to be made with the alignments in response to what they can do today?

TONY LA RUSSA: You'd have to ask them. I'm not sure they're that good. Defensive positioning a lot of times, you look at the pitcher, and you look at the frequency of where the ball goes, so you position them, but they did find the holes, and we didn't as much.

I know that they are capable if you play too much to pull that right and left-hander, they're capable of hitting six to four hole. So we were careful not to do that.

Q. Craig Kimbrel obviously has the resume but got hit really hard today. What did you take from his outing?

TONY LA RUSSA: You talking about Tucker?

Q. Craig Kimbrel.

TONY LA RUSSA: Oh, Craig. Well, his resume speaks for itself. Sometimes he kind of got a fastball over the plate and gets a double. Again, I hate doing it, but you take it however you want to.

It's not an explanation or an excuse. You take it to heart. It's not his situation. He willingly got ready to come in there and pitch. It's a different situation.

So he is his resume. I hope we're ahead on Sunday, and I think you'll see what he's done his whole career.

Q. Tony, all your relievers have done the job in their roles, but is it frustrating at all to have to wait until the game's sort of out of hand before you can get

Henriks in there? He's pitched in the closer role. He's not going to come in the seventh, but is that frustrating that you can't get him into the game before it's already lost?

TONY LA RUSSA: Well, if you add up the number of frustrating moments in that game, way down low, it's -- because Liam had to pitch -- we're off tomorrow. He had to pitch an inning. We could have been up by ten, and he'd have pitched.

Believe me, in the list of priorities, there's a lot of stuff that was frustrating about that ball game, and him pitching, actually, it's one of the positives. Got him working. So one day of rest, he'll be ready to pitch on Sunday.

Q. You mentioned pregame that you guys are still finalizing your plans for Games 3 and 4 starters. Did Michael Kopech not pitching today have anything to do with those plans?

TONY LA RUSSA: We were going to play the game today, and if we needed him to win the game, we would have pitched him. But whatever happens on Sunday, we've got his length there. That's another big asset for us. We didn't have to waste it.

He could have pitched an inning today and still been available. He'll be even more available.

Q. When you brought Lucas out for the fifth, you had Garrett warming behind him pretty quickly. Just what was in the process of going through that inning of when you decided to pull him and when you were sticking with him?

TONY LA RUSSA: You've got to watch the inning develop. He was pitching really well. He walks the leadoff guy with a two-run lead, and there was another walk. He did get Brantley out. Then he walked -- so to me, he'd given us what he could. I liked the matchup of one of our lefties against Álvarez, and he walks him.

But that's what I looked at. He had worked hard at that point. He's got a two-run lead. Last thing he's trying to do is walk guys. So that shows you he's right near the end for me.

Q. Skip, you talked about yesterday the sequence, and Giolito's sequence looked like it was excellent first couple times through the lineup, the slider, change-up. When he changed that, that is when it seemed like when he got in trouble?

TONY LA RUSSA: He didn't really change it. He just lost come command. He was excellent. That is what he was doing. He gave those guys a lot of different looks. I think there was another inning when he walked a guy. I think there's three or four runs that were scored because of walks. That's not how we pitch. That's a sign of he's starting to fatigue. But that doesn't take away from how well he pitched. He pitched very well.