AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 15, 2021

Alex Cora

Minute Maid Park

Boston Red Sox

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Astros - 5, Red Sox - 4

Q. Just a thought, Alex, on the battle that you guys gave them and just coming up short.

ALEX CORA: Good baseball game. Two swings changed the course of the game. First, slider to Altuve, and then the two-strike changeup to Correa. But I think overall we put good at-bats from the beginning to the end. I think we didn't cash in early on, but I think, yeah, they beat us, and we need to execute better, but overall a good baseball game.

Q. (Question in Spanish)

ALEX CORA: (Answer in Spanish)

Q. What did you think of Chris's start, and how close or not were you to taking him out there in the second with the bases loaded?

ALEX CORA: We were close, but the matchups kind of favor us, and he found another gear. So it's something that obviously he wants more, right? He wants to go deeper in the game, but where we were bullpen-wise and the matchups that we had, we felt that that was the right time to take him out. But I do believe he threw the ball a lot better, so he will be ready for his next one, and like I said, this guy, we count on him. I think he made some good strikes today.

Q. What did you think of Hernandez's catch early in the game and off the bat, did you think he had it?

ALEX CORA: The first one?

Q. That's a good point.

ALEX CORA: There were some weird balls over there. I think the one Tucker hit, it was like a knuckle ball, and you see it dancing over there. But the thing with him, it's his first step, and his first step is elite. I think metric-wise, he's the best first step in the Big Leagues in center field, and he does an outstanding job studying hitters and staying with our defensive positioning. And then he makes adjustments, and he has been doing that for us for a while. I think that's the reason we're playing better defense because he is out there, and he has been able to slow it down for everybody. He had a great game.

Q. Off the bat, though, do you think he had it?

ALEX CORA: We always think yeah. You see the jump where we were, and it was right away. His first step was on point, so, yeah, we felt like it was going to get in.

Q. Verdugo was close enough if it got under Kiké, was Verdugo close enough to back it up?

ALEX CORA: I'd have to take a look at it.

Q. Alex, your bullpen has been great, obviously, throughout the postseason, but is there kind of an inherent risk when you are into it into the third inning on a game like this and asking five, six, seven guys to all be on point that one or two might slip up and have what happened tonight?

ALEX CORA: That's the nature of the game, right? They got some big outs, and we made -- I don't want to say we made only two mistakes, because probably we got away with some pitches in the heart of the plate, but they took advantage of two mistakes. Altuve on the slider, and Correa on the changeup, so we'll keep doing what we do. We were in the game all the way until the end. We feel good about what we did today offensively, so we just got to build it up and keep going and be ready for tomorrow.

Q. Just kind of following up on that, how challenging is it to find 19 outs in a bullpen? You know, how hard a way is that to make it through nine innings?

ALEX CORA: It's hard, but we've done it before, so we just are going to keep doing that. Of course, we want our starters to go deeper in the game, but we feel like today we were very close to pulling this off pitching-wise. I think, like I said, they took advantage of two pitches. Altuve on the slider, and Correa on the changeup, but I think overall we did an outstanding job, and they took advantage of those two mistakes.

Q. If I could ask one more quick one. With Kiké at the plate right now, you know, how would you describe that?

ALEX CORA: I have no idea. Enrique is en fuego.

Q. Alex, was Hunter hurt when you hit for him, or was that a matchup situation, and what went into choosing Danny in that spot?

ALEX CORA: I think the guy on the mound dictated what we did. Danny put a great at-bat. Graveman has reverse splits. He is actually better against righties. I mean, whatever. Not reverse splits. My mistake. He is actually better against righties. That two-seamer at 99 is hard to hit it in the air, and we went Danny. That was a great at-bat. 3-2 count. He had to go through curveball instead of the slider, so, yeah, we're going to use everybody. We're going to try to use everybody on the roster to try to win games.

Q. If I can ask you in English and Spanish, please. You guys have been the best comeback team in baseball. What has allowed you to do that? What do you think is inside that clubhouse that you guys can do coming back tomorrow?

ALEX CORA: I think -- oh, tomorrow?

Q. Just bouncing back.

ALEX CORA: We started the season 0-3, and the sky was falling after three games, so...

No, we have a good baseball team, and I think on a daily basis we're getting the results. We stay in the moment. You win, you turn the page, you prepare for tomorrow. You lose, you turn the page, you prepare for tomorrow. They've done an amazing job since day one of the season, and I joke with that, but it's the truth. We lost the first three games of the season to Baltimore, and we felt like Game 4 against Tampa was the season, to be honest with you. We've been living like this for a while, so we'll be ready for tomorrow.

(Spanish)

Q. Alex, how hard is it just to contain such a dangerous and offensive lineup that the Astros have?

ALEX CORA: They have a good team. They have a good offense, so, you know, we prepare. We did a good job today. I know they scored five, but, like I said, they took advantage of two mistakes today in the ballpark. But overall we made it a competition. They didn't do much. I think we made pitches in certain situations. Just one of those, it just happened that they did damage, and they ended up winning the game.