NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES VS PADRES

October 19, 2022

Blake Snell

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Padres 8, Phillies 5

Blake Snell

Q. From your perspective, can you talk about the strange second inning?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, just tough luck. I mean, they're a good hitting team. They put the ball in play. Obviously very frustrating because I'm making really good pitches, and yeah, they were just getting hits.

It was frustrating, and yeah, just a weird inning. Very weird. But happy.

Q. You were probably, I don't know, a pitch or two away a couple times from Pierce coming in, and then you end up going five innings. That's not something you've always been able to do. How did you do it today?

BLAKE SNELL: I think you just focus on what I can actually control, what I need to do to set our team up to have our bullpen strong and healthy and not put those innings on those guys.

I mean, you think about that, and my whole goal is to try to beat Nola. I knew it was going to be tough because I know how good he is, but your goal is to always try to outlast their starter, and if you do that, usually you set your team up for a chance to win most of the time.

In this case I was able to, but yeah, I like to put that in my head and try to go after it and give us a shot to win.

Q. What was with all the fastballs early?

BLAKE SNELL: They weren't hitting it. Weak contact, I was controlling the in, out, up, down. It was just a really good pitch. Yeah, it was a really good pitch. It was just tough luck.

Q. You mentioned being frustrated during the second inning, but how do you erase that and stay locked in for the next three innings?

BLAKE SNELL: I think the biggest thing is you just understand you can't control that. The outcome is the outcome. There's no changing it.

But what you do next is probably the most important because if you get up more runs in the next inning, then you'll just -- floodgates, and you don't want that.

But if you keep throwing up zeroes, you know you're going to pump your team up and they're going to find a way to get back in the game. You know the outcome on both ends, so you know how important it is to try to get five or six, and when you know that, you've just got to try to go get it and be aggressive in the zone and trust your stuff, and we were able to do that.

Q. Coming into this, do you understand kind of the importance of a game like this? Obviously if you guys lose, you go down 0-2 going back to Philly. Is that running through your mind at all?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, you definitely don't want to go to Philly down 0-2. You know their fans are going to be good. They're going to bring it. When you're up two games, there's a lot more comfort.

You want to have it tied going there or have the lead going there because now they have to think a little bit more, they're more nervous, they're playing on their heels. That stuff is real.

To tie it back up the way we did, that's big, and that's good momentum for us. We want to capitalize. We hope we can capitalize. It's a really good team we're playing. I'm excited to see how we match up.

I know we're pretty similar in a lot of ways. Hopefully we go there and we can have a good three games there and see what happens.

Q. When you're roaring toward 40 pitches in an inning like that and it's hot out and obviously you're jacked up and you're feeling the adrenaline, what's tiring on you? What on your body is saying, ooh, this is a lot of pitches?

BLAKE SNELL: I mean, it's different every game. Sometimes it's your shoulder, it's your elbow, it's your legs.

Q. But you don't throw 40 pitches an inning very often, right?

BLAKE SNELL: Early in the season I did, yeah. I think that trained me pretty well. I've done that before. The first inning I threw, what, six pitches? I don't do that a lot. Usually it's like foul ball, foul ball, or ball, ball.

I think having a quick first kind of helped, and then going out there and having that long inning, I felt that before a good amount, and I think that kind of helped me know like we're good, I've been here before, I've felt this.

And it taught me if I keep attacking with the stuff that I had today, I'll be fine. Because I was locating the fastball well, I was locating my pitches well. It wasn't like they were hitting the ball exit velo over 100.

I was aware of that. I was aware of how good I felt today. I just believed that if I attacked the zone, it could benefit us a lot.

Q. Nothing on you physically was fatiguing to the point where you were thinking, oh, I don't know if I can -- velo-wise or getting on top of the ball-wise or anything like that?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, not today. I think you're just so jacked up that you don't really pay any mind or care to pay mind to it. You're just like, I'm just going to go out there and dominate. That's all you keep telling yourself.

Yeah, nothing really goes through my mind like that because you understand how big these games are. Tomorrow and the next day, yeah, I'll feel it, but not today.

Q. Is there a way to put it off, that fatigue, walking around the mound a little bit? Is there any way to steal some seconds that will allow your shoulder, legs or whatever to come back a little bit?

BLAKE SNELL: Yeah, you can go behind the mound and take your time until you feel ready to go. But honestly I feel like I haven't been fatigued at all lately just because of the condition I'm in. I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life, and I feel like I'm able to withstand anything that's thrown at me.

Just, yeah, I just feel really strong. I don't feel like I'm going to get fatigued because of all the work I've done with Kenny in the weight room and running.

Yeah, so I think -- if I'm going to be honest, that's really why I believe I won't be fatigued.