NL DIVISION SERIES: GIANTS VS DODGERS

October 14, 2021

Gavin Lux

Dodger Stadium

Los Angeles Dodgers

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Los Angeles Dodgers - 2, San Francisco Giants - 1

Q. What was it like just being a part of the series reconsidering the way these two teams kind of went at each other for five games?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, it was awesome. These are probably the two best teams in baseball obviously in the regular season, so we knew going into it it was going to be a dog fight and you saw tonight. It, like Scherzer and Mookie said, it took everybody. It was a lot of fun to be a part of. Obviously this atmosphere here was great. Atmosphere at Dodger Stadium was great. So overall it was a sweet series.

Q. What did it mean to you to see Max coming in for the 9th inning there?

GAVIN LUX: I didn't even know he was coming in so I went down. I had to use the restroom real quick. So I popped back up and I was like, oh, my God, Scherz is in the game. So immediately I went to our strength coach and I was like I'm fired up to see him the in the game there's nobody else I would rather see to close this thing out than Scherz, so it fired me up.

Q. You guys have experienced both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. How do you feel after this game compared of course to how Game 3 ended for you?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, obviously a lot better. It was a dog fight all night. It felt like it was going to be one at-bat, one swing that changed it. And it was fun, man, it was a dog fight and it was a grind and it took everybody.

Q. Could you describe the last strike from your perspective watching from the dugout, what you saw?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, I have no clue. I thought he foul tipped it at first and Will caught it. But I have no comment on it, honestly.

Q. Who was the first you saw to emerge from your dugout in celebration?

GAVIN LUX: I might have been first one, I don't even know. I think we all kind of jumped over the fence at the same time. I don't know if anybody really thought it was a check swing or not, so as soon as we looked down and saw him put his hand up, everybody hopped over the fence and, you know, start the party.

Q. We were talking before the game and you said JT kind of gave you this advice to just feel like you're 4-4 when you come up to the plate. You actually got on base four times in Game 4. Did that give you more confidence coming into this one than you think you might have had otherwise?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, absolutely. I think every time you go and step in a playoff at-bat you're going to face a guy who is really good, tough, so, yeah, I think having that 4-4 feeling is what you need. If you don't have that confidence in these situations, these pitchers are really good and so you have to have that mindset.

Q. Looking at your swing in the 9th inning, your hit in the 9th inning, Cody's really all three of Mookie's, even Corey's double, those were low, line drives, was that a concerted effort on your guys' part to do something different today?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, Brownie, one of our hitting coaches, was like, let's single them to death here in the 9th. And Logan Webb was obviously really good, he's tough, so the entire game we kind of had that approach and then we finally pushed it across in the 9th there. And obviously Mookie hit four singles, so that was kind of the approach we had to take and just grind it out and single them to death and try to push some runs across.

Q. Is Brownie usually that good?

GAVIN LUX: (Laughing) He is, he's the man.

Q. I was going to ask about your approach in the 9th, but I'll mix it up with something on a lighter note. I asked Cody about that GIF you sent him last night so are you Kobe throwing the assist to him or is he throwing it to you, how does that work and why did you decide to send it?

GAVIN LUX: That's kind of funny, our handshake before the game, we do two claps and then I throw him an alley-oop and he usually tries to dunk on Yosuke, one of our trainers, we usually try to find him and set him up. So it kind of goes hand in hand with our handshake so that's kind of where I got it from. I just literally typed in alley-oop in my GIF search and that's what popped up is Kobe and Shaq and it made sense to me.

Q. Did you know Max before he got here and what has it been like, have you been surprised by having him around, what does he bring to the clubhouse?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, intensity. You see him step on the mound and he's a dog, man, and you want to play behind that guy. And I've been on the other side of it and I've contributed to bunch of those 3,000 punch-outs he has, so obviously I would much rather have him on our side than the opposite. But he brings that intensity and that dog mentality that I think we need.

Q. You guys prepared now, of course, to turn the page, look forward to flying to Atlanta? I guess it's kind of odd that you guys had this many number of wins and yet you have to be the road team in the next round, what are your thoughts on that?

GAVIN LUX: Yeah, it is what it is. We kind of knew that we were going to have to go to Atlanta after this one any ways, so like I said, that's the way the playoffs are set up, nothing we can do about it. Like we said, like Mookie said, turn the page, have fun tonight and get back at it tomorrow night.