AL DIVISION SERIES: GUARDIANS VS YANKEES

October 18, 2022

Terry Francona

Yankee Stadium

Cleveland Guardians

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Yankees - 5, Guardians - 1

Q. What did you see with Civale?

TERRY FRANCONA: He just didn't come out commanding very well. Walk, four-pitch walk, a hit batsman. Before we had a chance to settle into the game, you know, he elevated a cutter to Stanton and it's three, and then there's an infield hit. I felt terrible taking him out that quickly, but I just didn't think we could give up any more. I knew it was a big ask with our bullpen. I thought they actually did terrific just to hold it to kind of what they did.

Q. Knowing that it's hard a few minutes after the final out, how would you assess overall how far this group came this season, given where it started?

TERRY FRANCONA: Probably further than anybody except the people in that room thought they would go. I just reminded them of that.

I know they are hurting right now, because they care, and they worked unbelievably hard. But I hope as that wears off, they will realize just how proud we are of them and how much we care about them. And also reminded them that this needs to be a starting place for us. This can't just be a good story this year. We need to take this and go, because I think we have a chance to have something really special.

Q. The play with Gimenez in the fourth, why didn't you challenge it?

TERRY FRANCONA: We ran out of time.

Q. Did you see anything lesser at all in Cortes on short rest or did he look just like the guy who started in Game 2?

TERRY FRANCONA: I thought he threw the ball pretty well. I mean, you look at the life on his fastball. He still had that. You know, I'm sure they were keeping an eye on him because he was on short rest, but no, I thought he was pretty good.

Q. The Rosario bunt in the first inning, was he on his own?

TERRY FRANCONA: We don't give guys base-hit bunts.

Q. Any thought to using Bieber early in the game after Civale got knocked out?

TERRY FRANCONA: No.

Q. What was the big difference why the Yankees are moving on in this series and you're not?

TERRY FRANCONA: They won one more game than us. I don't know how to even begin to answer that. Every game is its own game. They beat us today. We pushed them about as far as we could and they came out and beat us today, so they get to move on and we don't.

Q. You referenced asking a lot of your bullpen. The trio you guys rely on in the late innings in the bullpen, how did you feel they responded? Was it longer than you were hoping you were going to have to use them?

TERRY FRANCONA: It was certainly a lot longer than we hoped. But they gave it everything. They emptied the tank for us. You start to worry. We try to keep them around 30, under 35 pitches, and they all, I think, did that.

But that was a big ask and they did a terrific job. They have done a terrific job all year.

Q. Was Hentges always the guy you thought was going to get the call if there was early trouble?

TERRY FRANCONA: Depending when in the game. With Sam, he has the ability, if he can get on a roll, to maybe go multiple innings. They had a couple really good at-bats off of him when he first came in that lengthened out the first inning that hurt his chances to go longer.

Q. You got five really good looks at the Yankees in the last week. What do you anticipate in the next series for them with the Astros?

TERRY FRANCONA: I have no idea. I have no idea. We're five minutes out, done from losing the game. I have no idea.

Q. It might be difficult to assess, but in a league where teams, franchises are spending more and more money on players, you guys went a long way with the least amount of money of any team that got into the playoffs this year. What does it say about what you can do under those circumstances, and how does that affect the franchise for the long term?

TERRY FRANCONA: You guys are asking questions that -- I have no idea what next year is going to look like. I just got done talking to a bunch of guys that are broken-hearted in there because we care about them. And they have shown that although we didn't get to our final destination, it's a pretty good year. A lot of things happened that I don't think people were expecting. Where it goes from here, that's up to us. We are going to have to take it and do better.