AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 16, 2021

J.D. Martinez

Minute Maid Park

Boston Red Sox

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Red Sox - 9, Astros - 5

Q. Could you just take us through the first at-bat and how good did it feel going the other way, and what's it like to be part of the first team ever to have two players hit a grand slam each in the same postseason game?

J.D. MARTINEZ: That was the first one? That's interesting. I don't know. It's a tough spot for him. He had bases loaded. Credit to the guys before me, to Dugie and Devers, who grinded out really tough at-bats and drew the walks there to give me that chance. But that situation, the pressure is on him, it's not on me to come through there. It's the first inning. He has bases loaded. I'm trying to tell myself that, trying to stay relaxed and just looking for a pitch so I can just put a barrel on it.

He is kind of tough. He creates some unique angles when he pitches. He spins the ball really well. Just trying to see something deep and just put a good swing on it really.

Q. Just how huge is it just to go back to Boston with the series tied?

J.D. MARTINEZ: It's huge. We came here, we were, like, we got to split. That's all we have to do. Obviously we would love to win both of them. I think that's a little wishful thinking against a team like this. So to get the split here and to go back home with our fans, who have been unreal the entire postseason, it will be fun. It's exactly what we wanted.

Q. J.D., does this feel like the most complete the lineup has been all year?

J.D. MARTINEZ: Yeah. I mean, you have guys hitting in the top of the order and the guys hitting at the bottom of the order. It's a deadly lineup because you know the guys in between are going to pretty much do what they do. So Kiké to be playing the way he is playing and even Dugie hitting the ball the way he is hitting the ball, I mean, it's just a potent lineup, one through eight, one through nine, you know?

It's fun. It's the matchup. This whole series, that's the matchup is they got the same kind of team. When you look at it on paper, they have an unbelievable lineup, and we feel like we do too.

Q. We know, obviously, Rafi has done 100% right now and grinding through it. What do you watch in his preparation every day that gets his swing to a point where he is able to take advantage of that pitch and hit a grand slam there?

J.D. MARTINEZ: He has found his routine, his cues, his thought process of what he has to do to line his swing up. Obviously, he's dealing with that issue, which it sucks, obviously, because you hate to see him like that. It hurts me when I watch him swing, and he put the bat down like that. But it shows his heart. He is out there competing, and he is putting tough at-bats together, and that was a big hit. That was a really big hit.

These guys, you got to keep the pedal to the floor with them. You can't let them in because they can come back. And just as fast as we went up, they can come right back with it too.

Q. I wondered if you at any level of baseball have been involved with two grand slams in two innings like that?

J.D. MARTINEZ: I don't think so. I don't think so. It's got to be a first.

Q. J.D., when you got that kind of lead and you have Nate going, what sort of just kind of calm does that give you guys and what kind of confidence does that give you in a game when you need to win as badly as you did?

J.D. MARTINEZ: Huge. To me, come playoff time, I want Nate on the mound because he just seems to have it. He has that dog in him where he comes out every time, and he makes it really, really hard on those hitters. To be able to get that lead in and hand the ball to Nate and Nate to do exactly what he did, and that was to shut them down real quick and get us back in the box was I think what changed the whole game.

Q. I was wondering when was the first time and place where you probably met Kiké playing with him? Obviously, both being part of the Houston organization. What was he like back then, and how has he changed to where he is now?

J.D. MARTINEZ: We talked about that the other day. I never got to be around him enough because he was always two levels under me. Because I asked him, where were you in 2010 or whatever when I was in Lexington, and he was in the GCL. We would always see each other in passing when we were in Spring Training and stuff. But I just always knew of him because the scout that drafted me, Greg Brown, drafted him too, so he always kind of would tell me, he is, like, you guys are my guys, you guys are my guys, so I always knew of Kiké.

Q. Just a thought, I think you are 16-5 under Alex in the postseason. Obviously, it's a credit to the team as well, but 5-0 after a loss, what is it about you guys and maybe Alex and the ability to bounce back the way you guys can?

J.D. MARTINEZ: I don't know. For me, I think it's just the energy. Both teams I was on just bring a lot of energy. Alex brings energy into the clubhouse. You hear him always yelling from the dugout. He is yelling after every pitch, so I think it kind of just resonates with everybody, and everybody feels that energy and that presence. Everyone starts yelling too, and the energy is always high.

In the playoffs, that's what it is. It's all about energy. Whatever team has that energy and that momentum always seems to be in those fights.