MLB WORLD SERIES: ASTROS VS BRAVES

October 29, 2021

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Atlanta - 2, Houston - 0

Q. Brian, can you talk about what went into the decision to pull Ian when you did? Not just with the no-hitter but also against the --

BRIAN SNITKER: The no-hitter thing, he wasn't going to pitch a nine-inning no-hitter.

Q. I was going to say also against the backdrop of two bullpen games.

BRIAN SNITKER: No, but still I'm -- and I told Ian, I said, Ian, I'll be honest with you. One of the things was he was throwing a lot of pitches in the top half of that lineup, getting ready to go back out when he did.

I thought the fourth inning he really had to work to get through that. He had a really good fifth inning. And then I told him because he was like, are you sure? Are you sure? (Laughter). But I was just like, Ian, I'm going with my gut right here. Just my eyes, my gut.

It would have been real easy to let him go out. I don't know, something just -- our guys were rested that we like, and I just thought at some point those guys had saw, I think, Altuve -- their first three hitters saw multiple -- had 12, 9 -- I think 12 pitches that they saw off him. I was like he's getting out of trouble, and he's making pitches. You look up there -- and he was making pitches when he had to. That's what I said earlier today. The kid never stops pitching. He never stops trying to make pitches.

I don't know. It could have backfired, I guess. I just thought at that point in time, in a game of this magnitude and all, that he had done his job. And we had a bullpen that all the guys we use had two days off, and they were only going to pitch an inning apiece, and that made them available for the next two games after if it went south.

Q. Were you almost relieved when they get that hit in the ninth inning after the only hit to that point was the one that falls --

BRIAN SNITKER: No, I wasn't relieved. I wanted to catch that ball (laughter). There was no relief at all.

Q. In retrospect, I should say?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, no, no. I was like, oh, my God, now they're bringing -- no, I wasn't relieved after that.

(Laughter).

Q. What can you say about Ian, what he's been able to do in his postseason career so far?

BRIAN SNITKER: He's been awesome. Like I said, the kid is so mature. But we got a lot of three-ball counts. The biggest credit to Ian is he never stops trying to make pitches, making pitches. He never gives in. He stays with his stuff. He stays with the game plan. If it doesn't work, he goes to the next hitter and starts anew.

He's got a really good quality of limiting damage when he's not real sharp. I don't know, it's just we had all our guys gassed up today. I kind of liked how it set up after -- and I think too in the postseason -- we hadn't scored any runs either. So he's one mistake away from a really good outing going awry honestly, which against this lineup is really easy to happen.

So I just kind of felt that he got us to a really good point in the game.

Q. When you go through this game, do you have to just forget about the fact there's two bullpen games coming and just focus on this one?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, I was all about winning today, and we'll deal with tomorrow tomorrow. It is, we're going to have to use a lot of the other guys, and that's just -- hopefully, we score more runs.

Q. Do you have a pitcher for tomorrow?

BRIAN SNITKER: We're still talking. It's going to be an opener. We're not sure. Right now we're still, as things get rushed through, talking about who that's going to be. But we'll have one here shortly.

Q. Now that you've experienced it, what was your first World Series experience like at Truist Park, and how special was it when they honored Hank Aaron?

BRIAN SNITKER: It was awesome. It was everything I thought it would be. The fans were unbelievable. I'm sure outside in The Battery everything was just crazy. No, it was really cool. Really cool. I thought -- you know, I got to hug Billye, you know, and (pausing) tell her how much I missed Hank.

Q. I'm wondering, you have an important job, obviously, which is to try to win this game, number one. Do you ever think about the game or about history or what might be most entertaining, or are you so focused on a singular event, I need to win a baseball game?

BRIAN SNITKER: I need to win a baseball game. I don't see a lot of stuff. Over the course of my career, my wife is, "You see this, you see that?" I was like, "No." You just get so locked in on the game itself, and you don't see things because there's just so much going on in the course of the game.

Q. All the reasons you stated about pulling him are perfectly logical. But it still has never really happened, I don't think, a pitcher being pulled from a no-hitter in the World Series when he's healthy. Are those kind of decisions something you've evolved into over time? Because it's probably not something we would have seen --

BRIAN SNITKER: No, that's a good question, and you're probably right. The me of old, probably a couple years ago, would be how the hell am I doing this, quite honestly? But the pitch count was such that he wasn't going nine innings. So it wasn't about that.

I've had that happen to me a few times during the regular season where you let guys go. He wasn't going to throw a no-hitter himself. It was going to be a combined no-hitter if he did it. He probably only had one more inning in him after we took him out.

Q. You guys have not lost a game at Truist Park this postseason. What is it about this ballpark this year in the postseason?

BRIAN SNITKER: The guys like playing here. I mean, they do. Guys ask me during the season, how come you win on the road and you don't win at home and vice versa? I don't know what it is. I know the guys like playing here. They like being at home. They like our atmosphere. Just everything internally. Our fans are awesome.

I keep saying it and saying it, this Braves Country thing is real. It is so good, and our players love it, appreciate it, and it's a real thing how these people come out and support this club. And they do feed off of it. I'm sorry, they feed off of it.

Q. Brian, what was your view on the Diaz hit? Did you think Rosario could have gotten to it? What was the reaction in the dugout?

BRIAN SNITKER: I hadn't seen it. I'll be honest with you, I was sitting back in the dugout, which I normally don't, just because of the elements, and I haven't seen a replay or whatever. I know it was probably one of those in between type things.

I'm going to tell you what, to the players' credit, it is hard to here. It is so loud, and it's hard to hear. That's one of those plays where you practice, if you've got someone that can work the pitching machine really good to do that play, when we do pop-up priorities in Spring Training, that's a big play that we do so we don't have wrecks and guys take command of that.

But in these circumstances, anything can happen because guys can't hear each other.

Q. Was there a reaction in the dugout, or was it just tying run's on base now?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, I reacted. I don't know, I just reacted. Number one, I didn't care about a no-hitter. I just care about the tie run getting on. It happens. It's a tough play right there.