AL DIVISION SERIES: ASTROS VS WHITE SOX

October 10, 2021

Leury García

Yasmani Grandal

Dylan Cease

Guaranteed Rate Field

Chicago White Sox

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Chicago, 12 - Houston, 6

Q. Just what was kind of that moment on connecting on the homer, and after having kind of a tough moment in Game 2, what did that feel like to kind of be able to come through here?

LEURY GARCÍA: You have to leave the past in the past. It's nothing I can do about it. Today I came with a focus on the game 100% and tried to have a good game and help the team.

Q. Yasmani, your play obviously is causing a lot of conversation. Dusty called it a smart play on your part, especially as a catcher. Tony said you obviously have that running lane right there. What was going through, I guess, your mind during that play and then kind of after it when the discussion happened?

YASMANI GRANDAL: I mean, I wish I could tell you it was a heads-up play. I just saw the replay. I didn't even know I was running that far inside the line. I was actually just trying to get to first. It takes me a long time to get there, so as I hit the ball, I'm looking down. As I look up, I see the ball kind of coming straight at me. I try to get out of the way, and it hit me. So, yeah, I know what the rule is, but, like I said, I wish -- I wish it would have been a heads-up play by my part. It just so happened to hit me.

Q. Leury, what's the trick to facing two different pitchers in one at-bat?

LEURY García: It was the first time that happened in my career, but, you know, you have to have two approaches kind of, but the mindset is the same. You know, just try to make good contact and help the team.

Q. And then Yasmani, on your home run, you worked a seven-pitch at-bat, I believe. Will you break down kind of your approach for that at-bat?

YASMANI GRANDAL: My approach was pretty much either get the ball in the air or try and get on base. You know, obviously they're playing the first three games just to make sure they got me on the ground. So every time I've gotten the ball in the air, it's hit hard, and, you know, he just so happened to make a pitch up in the strike zone, change-up, which, you know, when you look at the numbers and especially where he threw it, the probability of that ball getting hit is not high at all. So I was just able to get a good swing on it, barrel it, and get it in the air like I thought or like I came into the day thinking about and hitting it out.

Q. Yasmani, with the situation that you guys were in to play like you did today and to get that win the way you guys did, what does that say about this team?

YASMANI GRANDAL: I mean, it says a lot. The one thing that I told Kopech after he came in and gave up the two-run home run to Tucker was, you know, this is your game. I need you in this game. You know, I told him I've been here before. We're going to come back and we're going to win it. I don't think he really believed me until he saw that we actually came back, so we've had plenty of games during the year where we've been down early by a lot of runs, and we've been able to come back and take the lead, so today was no different.

Q. Leury, what does it mean to you and the rest of the players, like in Game 2, you know, there was a play where it didn't work out, same thing with Kimbrel. He had a game, didn't work out. You guys come back and have as much confidence as you need to get the job done the next time out. What is that faith in La Russa and the staff have to go for that?

LEURY García: Those things happen. You know, everybody have a bad day, but our mindset today was in today's game. We need to win this game, and that's what we were thinking today. There's nothing else. The past is the past.

Q. Yaz, one, Tony said that he heard over and over in the last few innings from the guys in the dugout how thankful and how awesome it was for them to see the fans there from start to finish. Nobody left, loud as can be. What was that like? What were you guys saying?

YASMANI GRANDAL: It was great. Billy Hamilton is a hype man. I told Billy, hey, I think it was right around the third inning. As soon as we come back in, I need you to get the fans back it in it. If we get the fans back in it, we're going to go ahead and take over this game. Billy said all right. This place was rocking tonight. I haven't seen it -- these fans are incredible, so the fact that everybody was here, it was great. All blacked out. It was awesome. Hopefully we'll have it tomorrow again, and, you know, keep rocking.

Q. And tomorrow you'll be with Carlos to start. What have your conversations been like with him? Tony said that really in the past 48 hours he has been telling him, like, it's been kind of a turn-around. I really feel good for the first time.

YASMANI GRANDAL: Yeah, he has been saying that, so I'm excited about that. You know, Carlos is a competitor. He wants to be out there. He wants to make sure he's on the mound. We've seen what he can do when he's a full go, so the fact that he has actually been saying, hey, I got it, I got it, I got it, it's great news to hear. So I'm very excited for that.

Q. Yasmani, how big has Tim Anderson been at the plate this postseason?

YASMANI GRANDAL: I mean, Timmy goes, we go. That's just the name of the game. He can make -- he can do things with the bat. He can do things with his legs. Very smart player. He knows what he wants to do. He knows how he wants to do it. Yeah, I mean, that's why he is our lead-off guy. Yeah, if he goes, we go, and we're going to follow him all the way through. You know, obviously, having him on the base path, he can steal bases. He can go first to home, first to third, so it's always a good thing when we have him on base or at the batter's box.

Q. Dylan, can you talk specifically about the bullpen, the last five innings? I think they retired the last 15 in a row.

DYLAN CEASE: They came in and did a great job, and, you know, thankfully our offense and our bullpen as well were able to make it happen and pick me up, so it was good.

Q. Yasmani, this lineup has been very tough all series. Just what did you see from working walks and what not? What did you see from the execution level of the bullpen to put together the last five innings that you guys were able to do?

YASMANI GRANDAL: We finally made pitches with two strikes. I was -- that seemed to be like the story in the first two games. You know, we would get them to two strikes, and then we couldn't just put them away, and it's a veteran lineup. They know exactly what they want to do.

Today we were able to get them to chase a little bit more, get a few more swings and misses. You know, limit damage as much as we could, but, you know, I've played against these guys before, especially in the postseason, and I know exactly what -- how they go about it. I know exactly what they're trying to do, and, you know, it's a tough team. They definitely have a lineup that from one through nine, they are all going to be battling it out, and they know exactly what they want to do, and they feed off each other, so you need to limit all the damage as much as you can, and I felt like the bullpen did a great job of that.