NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 12, 2022

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Braves - 3, Phillies - 0

Q. Does tonight's outing validate everything we've been saying about Kyle throughout the season?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, pretty much. And then some. Probably just, whether the rain delay, you know, just how he went about -- that was huge for us. We needed to kind of get to our back-end guys. And that was pretty impressive what he did tonight.

Q. The fewest wins in the majors in games in which you didn't homer. But it's October and you find a way.

BRIAN SNITKER: I know. Like I said I think it's our 12th or 13th game we won all year without a homer. Some crazy -- there were some really good at-bats. It was tough sledding there for a long, long time. And we kind of, things went our way there with Matt's hit and Austin's. And Travis had just kind of three well-placed balls.

Q. How is Ronald feeling?

BRIAN SNITKER: I don't know. You know what, they told me after -- probably the best thing that happened was he scored and when we had a little time to get him downstairs and check him out. He was throwing into the cage. I think the longer he was there the more he started getting feeling back.

There's no structural damage or anything. It was just muscle. By the time the inning was over, he had feeling back and was -- I'm sure it's going to be sore. Probably good we have a day off tomorrow. They can treat him up.

But the good news is there wasn't anything structural or anything like that upon our examination. But he did, it kind of stung him good, and he got his feeling back by the time the inning was over.

Q. That inning started with him getting a hit and getting on. Again, he was the spark. What is it we've seen him for years now. What is it that he's always at the center of this stuff?

BRIAN SNITKER: Because he's got so many weapons -- his legs, the bat, the power, the whole thing. He can score from first on a double. It's a lot of things.

He's just kind of that electric guy that does have that penchant for igniting things especially this time of year when he gets on. It's pretty good to get those guys coming in behind him.

Q. You talked about offensive things that get, the spark for the team. Talk about Dansby's catch.

BRIAN SNITKER: We had two of them. We had Dansby's catch, which was unbelievable. And Austin's, too, on the tarp. I said they can be showing both of those for the next year. Just unbelievable plays.

Q. Having been through this before, how much of a comfort is it to know in a game like this that if you keep staying with it and you can maybe make it go your way some way somehow?

BRIAN SNITKER: These guys do that. I think the biggest thing is when you get a start like Kyle's that him putting that sixth inning down was huge, to go through the top half of their lineup.

But it is. These guys, they showed last night. We brought the tying run to the plate. And a great catch kept the next to the last out from getting to third with one out. But it's good that these guys, they never quit. They don't get caught up in the moment. They keep a slow heartbeat and stay in the moment.

Q. When you think about development and think about just two years ago Kyle makes that start against the Dodgers, and then just to think about where he's come -- how proud are you to see a night like this?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's awesome. As I was that World Series game and just his whole year, honestly. And tonight was just another one. Just where he's come and how he's allowed himself to do that and what he's done and the adjustments he's made. He's going to keep getting better, too.

As he's out there and figures things out, he's going to continue to develop and grow and gain confidence. With that arsenal that he's got, he can be a force for a long time.

Q. After obviously Max's performance last night and going against Zack Wheeler today, obviously was a big pressure moment, did you at all have any concern at all about Kyle at all? With the long delay did you check on him periodically?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, I'll be honest with you, I applaud Major League Baseball. We sat in all the meetings. I thought they did a really good job, Chuck and his staff. They kept us very well informed, both myself and Rob and the GMs and everything.

I thought they did a great job of hanging in there. And when we came out of those meetings, we could let these guys kind of know what was going on with the timeframe. We didn't spring anything on them. We gave them plenty of time.

Like I say I applaud Major League Baseball for how they handled this. It ended up being a beautiful evening. And Kyle himself, he's been through a lot. Now, almost a year, I mean, a lot of different situations. And handled everything unbelievable.

Q. Game 3 and 4, about starters, what are you looking at right now?

BRIAN SNITKER: A few guys. (Laughter). We have some options.

Q. Will Charlie start Game 3?

BRIAN SNITKER: Like I say, we're still chewing that around, however you say.

Q. You've guys played in every environment there is. It's going to be crazy in Philly this weekend. Do you feel that's something that the guys...

BRIAN SNITKER: I've been in Philly when it's crazy. When I was a third base coach, every game we played there was nuts.

These guys are used to it. It's going to be I guess the so-called hostile environment, obviously. But they're used to, the last two nights, the last -- this whole year has been nuts here. It's been like playoff baseball pretty much the entire year here.

And I don't think it's anything that they haven't been exposed to and probably they'll feed off it like they feed off our fans here in Atlanta.

Q. Long delay, what do players do nowadays during that time period, like what did you observe? It's not like --

BRIAN SNITKER: I went to the clubhouse a couple times. I was like, where is everybody? I don't know. Went to McDonald's or... (laughter).

All I know is I just tried -- I'm an unbelievable grazer, so run into the food room and eating. That's kind of what guys do. They eat. There's a couple of video games back there. Now they've all got iPads and all that. They keep themselves amused with the video games and all that kind of stuff.

But it's a big room in there and there's a lot of different options for them. But it is tough. Some of them go take a nap when it's going to be to the extent of what we were seeing today. They just roam, I think.