NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS DODGERS

October 14, 2022

Blake Snell

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Padres 2, Dodgers 1

Q. Blake, your manager left you in the sixth inning. He felt like you were still throwing. At what point did he let you know that and what did it mean to you?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, it meant a lot. I know when I came in after the fifth, I thought I might have a chance to get taken out, but Bob lets us go. He just said, How do you feel? I said, Good. He said, All right, keep going.

I've learned to trust Bob that he's going to let us go until he thinks it's time to pull us.

Q. When you've had trouble sometimes, it's with walks. Tonight you didn't let that snowball. It's not the first time that's happened, but it's kind of important. How did you keep it together?

BLAKE SNELL: I think I just focused on each pitch in the moment and not trying to think too far ahead or psych myself out on what I needed to do, just each pitch, make the good pitch, and I trusted that the outcome would be really good. I think I just kept it pretty simple.

Q. You were curious about what the crowd would be like, so what was it like?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, the crowd was legit. That's probably the best crowd I've ever pitched in front of. Usually I'm used to pitching in front of crowds that are never cheering for us; so to have a crowd that cheers for us, that was pretty special.

There's been times here where it's special, but the energy was like -- it was electric the entire time, every play, every pitch. That was pretty amazing.

Q. Some guys say they block out the crowd. Obviously you were very aware of it. Did they help you?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah. I mean, I would say so. They didn't help me -- like the first two innings I was way too amped up. I was trying to throw as hard as I possibly could. I wanted to give the fans everything and more. I was kind of emptying the tank a little too soon. But then I said, all right, let's calm down, let's start just executing pitches and not try and throw hard so we can go deep into the ballgame.

Q. That's one of the adjustments you made was dialing it back?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, and just, yeah, calming down because you get really hyped up when you have a crowd that's that excited, and you want to do everything you can to make sure they're going home happy.

Q. The bullpen hasn't allowed a run yet this series. From your vantage point, what's happening?

BLAKE SNELL: Man, they're just executing, getting ahead, trusting their stuff. They all throw hard. They all have good stuff. They're just trusting it, and they're throwing over the plate and making good pitches. When they do that, they're going to succeed at a high rate.

Q. Blake, how satisfied are you with the fact that you were able to pitch the way you did and get the team a win, put the team in position to win and get that victory?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, I think winning, that was the most important thing. I'll figure out what I liked about the start, what I didn't like. I'll tell you right away, I liked how many strikes I was throwing first pitch.

I'll look at more, but I think the most important thing is we won, and we've just got to keep winning. However we can do that, I am going to feel good about it.

Q. What's the mood in the clubhouse right now, the confidence level of this team going into tomorrow?

BLAKE SNELL: It's the same it's been when we went into New York. I mean, we're starting to figure each other out. We're starting to really enjoy playing the game together, and we're a real selfless team right now. It's pretty exciting.

For me personally, I'm excited to see what we can do tomorrow.

Q. This is the first time that the Padres win a playoff game with fans in the stands. Being that pitcher who did that, what does it mean for you?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, it means a lot. You could tell from the second I walked out of the dugout to go warm up, it felt like a sellout. Everyone was in their seats already ready to go, so you could tell how bad they want it. We feel that, we know that, and we want it just as bad as them.

To be able to be the first pitcher, that's amazing, but took a team, and I think that's the best part is that we did that together. We won a 2-1 ballgame against a really good team.

Q. You haven't been one of the guys to pitch to Austin all year, but you have lately. You guys all want to throw to him. What is it about him?

BLAKE SNELL: I mean, he just understands the game, understands the hitters. He's really smart. He's good behind the plate. He blocks really well. He catches really well. He's extremely confident. He's fun to work with. A couple things, yeah. He's really good.