AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 22, 2021

Nathan Eovaldi

Kyle Schwarber

Minute Maid Park

Boston Red Sox

Postgame 6 Press Conference

Astros - 5, Red Sox - 0

Q. If you don't mind just sharing your emotions at the moment, if it's the disappointment of the series or how you feel about the whole season? What are you guys feeling right now?

NATHAN EOVALDI: For me, I think we're definitely disappointed right now. We obviously wanted to win this game and win the series and go on the to World Series. No one expected us to be here. We proved a lot of people wrong.

We believed in ourselves as a team. We were able to overcome a lot of obstacles together and get to this point. I mean, obviously, the end goal is the World Series, but, you know, when you don't get there, you got to look back at the season and realize everything that we were able to accomplish. We were able to accomplish a lot of good things.

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's disappointment. At the end of the day, we're all competitors, and we all want to make it to the end goal. The end goal is the World Series and winning it. And since I was traded over here and was able to -- I got to watch for pretty much two weeks. It was, like, we went on that road trip, ten-gamer, and went 2-8. And I was just, like, you know what, this team is grinding. They're not quitting in any of these games. This is what it takes to win in the postseason.

We fought, scratched, clawed to get our way into the playoffs, and, you know, then we went in the Wild Card. We played unbelievable going into the Division Series. Played unbelievable too. I thought we grinded our butts off through this series. It just didn't work out, but I think that the group should be very proud of themselves. You know, I wasn't here since day one, but hearing the story behind, you know, that no one expected them to be even in the playoffs and not finishing even close to first or second in the division. This team should be very proud of themselves.

Q. Nate, your velocity was down a little bit at the start of the game. How were you feeling a couple days removed from the bullpen outing? Is that about as intense as you've ever experienced in the fourth inning when you had runners on second and third with no outs.

NATHAN EOVALDI: Physically I felt good. The other night when I came in in the ninth inning, I was doing too much. I wanted to make sure I wasn't going to be doing that today. I wanted to make sure I was executing my pitches, and I felt like we had a good plan coming in. Bregman got a base hit, and I felt like I made a good pitch to Alvarez, and he has been hot right now. He drove that ball to center, and once we were down 1, we kind of had our backs against the wall.

And then in the fourth inning they were able to get two more hits, runners on second and third, and I was able to work my way around it and good at-bat with Correa, Tucker. And then we were able to intentionally walk Gurriel and it was a big inning for us. I was hoping that was going to be the inning to get us back into the game and get us going, but tonight it just wasn't our night.

Their pitching was great. They stayed on us the entire night, but physically I felt good. I felt like as the game kept going on, the velo and everything was coming back, and I was settling in good.

Q. Kyle, you guys started off so well offensively in the series. Alex talked about Houston's plan kind of changing starting in Game 4. Why do you think you guys weren't able to make adjustments to counter that?

KYLE SCHWARBER: You know, I feel like the Game 5 back in Boston, you tip your cap to Framber there. He was lights-out. The guy was ticked up in velocity the whole time and dotting. When that guy is on and he has really high ground ball rate, you tip your cap. Going into today, you know, we had our game plan. You come out and the guy is ticked up in velocity and a little bit more sharp than he was in that first game that we saw him. I want to say even though, like, the results weren't there, the resiliency was there. It was a full-on battle, right? You're not going to go out there and score ten runs in every postseason game. That's a dream, right? That's what you want to do.

I have been in a lot of postseason games. I have never seen ten runs scored in a couple of games in a row, right? You just got to be able to be realistic, and you have to tip your cap sometimes. The guys are good. They're paid the same way as we are. And it's frustrating, obviously, for us because we came out so well, and we came out really well throughout the whole postseason, and just got to tip your cap.

Q. Hey, Kyle. I know you touched on it a couple of questions ago, but what was different about this locker room here in Boston, and could you see yourself here in the future knowing what's going forward in the winter?

KYLE SCHWARBER: I mean, I wish I could tell everyone I'm going to. I just want to say thank you to the whole group. Being the new guy coming in, it's not easy, right? The thing is I never played with any one of these guys before. No previous experience. These guys made it so easy on me just to be able to come in. And me being hurt, like, they could all look at me sideways and think why did we trade for a guy that's hurt, right?

I just wants to say thank you to the whole group. Starting from A.C. to the coaching staff to the players, to the front office that they all let me be myself. That's the biggest thing. You're coming into a really good situation and you just kind of want to mold right in. You don't want to be a roadblock or an obstacle. You don't want to feel like the whole group needs to get to know you. It's like I just want to kind of mold in and go from there.

And, I mean, this is definitely a clubhouse that I could see myself wanting to stay in. These guys are amazing. I said this, it's two World Series teams going at it. This is a World Series clubhouse, and I would love to hopefully see if that opportunity comes back.

Q. Being from Waltham helps too, right?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah.

Q. Nate, just to follow up on what Kyle said, a lot of the expectations weren't that high for you guys this year in some corners, but what you were able to accomplish this year and going forward, how much do you like this team, the foundation that's been laid, and having Chaim and Alex there to run things too?

NATHAN EOVALDI: Having A.C. back at the top and guiding us this whole way, I think you see the difference from last year to this year. I mean, the group of guys we have, the good, solid core, it's coming back next year. We got a lot of things to look forward to, and I think having this bitter taste in our mouth is going to be good motivation again for next year coming forward. And, I mean, I don't know. It's been such a roller coaster ride of a year. We've accomplished again a lot of really good things.

And once we got Sale back at the trade deadline, we got Schwarber, we really took off. That last bit of the season, that last month and then going into the postseason, I think that's what you look forward to until next year. Everybody was coming together. We weren't just relying on one guy at the plate. We weren't just relying on one arm in the bullpen. Everybody was stepping up contributing, and a lot of our younger guys really stepped up to the plate, up to the challenge and everything.

You got Houck out there who was able to throw the ball great tonight. He has been outstanding for us all season. Whitlock, he was unbelievable all year, and this is his first Big League year. So there's no limit to everything that he can do. I think just defensively where we started at the beginning of the season to where we ended, I mean, there's a lot of very positive things to take out of this year, and that's what we got to make sure we focus on in the offseason and coming back to next year.

Q. Nate, obviously, the disappointing ending for you guys as a team, but you maybe had your best regular season ever. Made four really good postseason starts. What are your emotions like of what you were able to accomplish on a personal level?

NATHAN EOVALDI: For me it's being able to stay healthy. That's a big thank you to our training staff. They've been unbelievable for us this year. Our coaching staff and taking care of me. Knowing when to take me out of games. I'm not the best in saying when I'm done, when I'm ready to come out of games. Everything that I was able to accomplish, it's thanks to them. It's having Vaski and Plaw behind the plate and Wong as well and being able to work in between each start.

Everybody on the same page of what we're trying to accomplish and the way we're attacking hitters and just being able to adjust on the fly midgame and needing to have multiple ways of getting them out. I think the biggest thing for me has been able to adjust game to game. If I had a bad game, I was able to figure out what we were doing wrong and we were able to right the way and be able to come back out the next start and have a quality start.

Our entire rotation, I think that everybody stayed healthy this year, and it's unbelievable to be able to do, and, again, it's a big thank you to our training staff, and the way that they handle us and take care of us.

Q. Kyle, you've not played a lot of first base, but at a pivotal point in the game, you've turned an unassisted double play with Yordan scoring from third. Can you take us through the play, and did you think you had a chance at three?

KYLE SCHWARBER: Yeah. It was a very weird play. I mean, especially just with the situation where it's a one-run game, and you don't want that guy to score. You get the ball hit to you, and I got it. In the corner of my eye, I could see Correa go back to the bag, and when I caught the ball, I looked at third, and I thought I saw him pause. You know, just kind of stop. I was, like, okay, he is not going to go. That's when I kind of turned around, and that's when I went for the tag and the step on first. And then when I turned back around, obviously, he scored.

If I could kind of do it all back, I wish that I could have just realized, you know, you have a little bit more time there just because Correa is coming back to the bag and you can see if Yordan is going to go home. Me, personally, I didn't want the run to score. I would rather keep the run from not scoring and having us work our way out from there. And just realizing that I could have had a little bit more time with Correa going back to the bag to really kind of stop him fully, and then you could probably still turn a double play. That was a play that I kind of wish I could have back, but in the moment it's just kind of -- it's rolling.

And it was a tough play, but, I mean, looking back at it now, that's kind of the overall that I wish that I could have done is just stop them fully and then we could have still possibly turned a double play.