NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: PHILLIES VS PADRES

October 23, 2022

Bob Melvin

Citizens Bank Park

San Diego Padres

Postgame 5 Press Conference

Phillies - 4, Padres - 3

Q. I know it's early, but can you put in perspective what you guys did this postseason.

BOB MELVIN: It's tough right now. I mean, that one stings. We've been so good about putting games away late. Suarez has been unbelievable. I think it's the first home run he's given up to a lefty all year.

So, yeah, it was tough even talking to the group there for a little bit.

At the end of the day, we expected to go farther, so it's disappointing. I think we'll probably take stock a little bit later and evaluate the year, but right now it's tough to do.

Q. When were you going to be comfortable going to Hader?

BOB MELVIN: We were going to look for four outs. We were trying to split it up with he and Suarez. But, look, we've got a lot of confidence in Suarez, came in and did a great job the inning before. We just fell a little bit short there.

Q. Was that just Trent's call on the bunt?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, grass is wet. Tough lefty on the mound. Puts us in a position to -- I talked to him before it to -- first baseman's back, drag it over there and we've got a chance, with a righty up behind him, to potentially knock in the go-ahead run too. So I think it's a decent play for sure.

Q. No thought of taking two swings at that tying run?

BOB MELVIN: Look, this is what we thought was best for it. He's a good bunter, and it got us in a position to potentially, like I said, knock in the winning run.

Q. The bottom third of the order had been so good in the first two series. It wasn't in this series. What changed there, do you think?

BOB MELVIN: Ebbs and flows. We've been good as a team picking each other up, whether it's the top of the order, middle of the order, or bottom of the order.

Look, we were in a position to win that game regardless. So I think our guys contributed across the board. We just came up short.

Q. Does the calculus change at all after that leadoff hit with Bryce Harper up there, and did you seriously consider going to Josh Hader for those six outs in that spot?

BOB MELVIN: He wasn't even ready at that point. It would have been less than six outs for him. We would have tried to get through the inning with him. At that point in time, I had confidence in Suarez.

Q. What did you like about the matchup there? You said Suarez has been pretty good all year against lefties?

BOB MELVIN: He has all year, you look at the numbers. This is a really good hitter obviously. He gets ahead of him with two strikes. I couldn't see in and out. It looks like he's locating away and trying to keep him in the ballpark there, maybe throw it by him. And he got the good piece of the bat on the ball.

Q. Just to clarify on the Grisham bunt, that was a mix of trying to bunt for a hit?

BOB MELVIN: He's trying to bunt for a hit there. He's trying to drag it to first.

Q. How much consideration did you give to getting Hader ready for Harper and then worrying about the ninth inning later?

BOB MELVIN: It's a thought at this point, but that wasn't what we were thinking. We were trying to get to four-out position for Hader, and we had a lot of confidence in Suarez.

Q. What was the state of a guy like Garcia today? Was he available at any point?

BOB MELVIN: If it got later, yeah, he was available. But at that point in time, we were trying to finish the game with those two guys.

Q. How challenging was it -- I mean, they had three, four guys that just kept coming through. How challenging was it? You can't like pitch around half their lineup?

BOB MELVIN: No. Even the Schwarber at-bat, we get behind him and end up walking him. But the middle of their order, 1 through 4, really 1 through 5, they've done a lot of damage. That's tough to navigate through multiple times.

And Yu did a great job with it too. We were going to have him go the fourth time around, but he pitched a great game too, especially in the conditions. It's tough to pitch and get a good grip on the ball, especially for a guy that spins it as much as he does.

Q. You think if this was not Game 5 of the NLCS that maybe at some point that would have been stopped?

BOB MELVIN: You know what, I don't know. I've played in worse. But I think it was playable. The thing about it is both teams have to play in it.

Q. What kind of challenge did that present, and what does it say about Yu to be able to do what he did today with all that going on?

BOB MELVIN: Yeah, everybody had to play in the same conditions, so everybody had to deal with it.

As far as pitching goes, a little tougher to get a grip especially for a guy that spins the ball like Yu does. But he's a pretty tough-minded cat and pitched really well.