NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 14, 2022

Rob Thomson

Citizens Bank Park

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Phillies - 9, Braves - 1

Q. Aaron Nola has not allowed an earned run in three straight starts now, the clincher the second game of the last series, the third game in the series. What can you say about how he's risen to the moment for the first time in his career in the postseason?

ROB THOMSON: I don't think you can say enough about it, really. His stuff, his makeup, his toughness, his resiliency, just he's done it all. And I thought his stuff was really good tonight. I thought that his curveball tonight, especially, was as good as I've seen it this year. He's just pitched extremely well for us.

Q. You haven't been here for their entire tenure but you've been here for a lot of what Aaron and Rhys have gone through. How good do you feel for them right now that they were the major players, especially early in this game, with this crowd, after an 11-year drought?

ROB THOMSON: I'm so happy for them. Aaron's been here a long time and pitched like -- in the Cy Young conversation every year almost and hasn't had a playoff start to show for it until this year. So I'm happy for him.

I'm really happy for Rhys. Rhys he does so much in the community here. He's hit a lot of big homers here and he's taken a lot of grief since the last game we played just because of the error.

I'm so happy for him. And there again, there's toughness there. And I'm just so happy for both of them.

Q. Just your overall impressions of how the team attacked Spencer Strider there in the third inning after how electric he looked in the first two and the success he had against you guys earlier this season?

ROB THOMSON: I'm not sure if he got tired but just kind of looked like his stuff went down a little bit. And I think the at-bat that really got us going was Stotts' at-bat, how he was grinding and grinding, fouling pitches off. And then I think it was a slider that he hooked down the corner.

And then we just kind of added on from there. They walked Schwarb and Hoskins hits the big three-run homer and Harper follows it up with a two-run homer. It was a huge inning, really was.

Q. Do you know who is starting tomorrow?

ROB THOMSON: Yes. Syndergaard will start.

Q. How big was it to make it through that game without having to use him, Falter or those guys?

ROB THOMSON: It was huge. And getting a huge lead, we didn't have to use Seranthony or Eflin, didn't have to use Bellatti. So we feel like we're set up pretty good tomorrow.

Q. With Syndergaard, is he going to go four, five innings or just one time through the rotation?

ROB THOMSON: We'll see.

Q. Yesterday you said this team, after that long road trip, to get into the playoffs and then those first two series in both St. Louis and Atlanta, needed that day off. How much of a difference did that make? Zach Eflin was saying that you guys came with a little renewed energy today.

ROB THOMSON: We did. I thought we did need the day off at home just to clean up some stuff. People have personal things to take care of. And I thought the fact that we stayed over in Atlanta and flew on the day off helped us out so that we weren't flying through the night. Guys don't sleep on the plane, typically. But their kids will.

And then the kids are up in the morning and now the guys can't sleep all day long. So I thought it was good that we did that.

But I think there was a couple of things. One, we needed a day off for some energy. Two, the crowd gave us energy. I mean, that's as loud as I've been around. And it was just fantastic. They went from first pitch to the last pitch. And that was unbelievable.

Q. Beyond Syndergaard, do the circumstances, potential clinch, potential Game 5 one day after, does it change how you handle your pitching staff at all or the decisions you make?

ROB THOMSON: I think it all depends on where we're at in the game and what the score is, if that answers your question.

Q. Going back to the third inning, you're an aggressive team normally but you scored all six runs on four pitches. Did you see something, say, let's go get them first pitch each time because it was first pitch, first pitch, first pitch?

ROB THOMSON: Not necessarily. I think guys just saw some pitches they could hit and they got after it. That's how we sort of play it. We don't say, okay, we're going to work this guy or we're going to be aggressive against this guy. We want to get a good pitch to hit and lay a good swing on it. That's it.