AL WILD CARD SERIES: BLUE JAYS VS TWINS

October 3, 2023

John Schneider

Target Field

Toronto Blue Jays

Postgame Press Conference

Twins - 3, Blue Jays - 1

Q. Starting with Kevin in those early innings there before correcting later on, was that similar from what you saw in earlier Twins games this season? What did you see from him there?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: A little bit. They made him work. I think it was two fastballs that he kind of just yanked a little bit to Lewis.

Other than that they grinded him pretty hard, whether it was walks or laying off some really good pitches. I thought his last inning obviously was his best.

You look at it, it was kind of similar with the way they made him work. And the two mistakes hurt him.

Q. Just a bit more broadly on how your lineup faced Lopez there. What was he doing well and what was the adjustment that might have made that better for your lineup?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: He's good, for one, and I think he was throwing a few more breaking balls to lefties than we kind of anticipated first time through, second time through, even.

But we hit some balls hard. Chappy hits the ball farther than Lewis and it's caught. It happens. He threw the ball. He threw the ball well. I thought that we adjusted pretty well along with him.

You give him credit. We hit some balls really hard that didn't find any holes.

Q. On Gausman and the Twins laying off splitters, specifically, did you see anything with that? Do you have any thoughts on like maybe how they were able to lay off some of those pitches?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: They weren't really carrying the zone as well as they did later. That was the biggest thing. I think you kind of couple that with a couple of missed locations with fastballs. One guy had all their RBIs. Yeah, they made him work, but it got better as it went on. It's just one of those things with Kev's arsenal.

Q. More broadly, you guys have been in this position before last year and even this year kind of having to have a bunch of must-wins to end the season. Do you guys draw on that experience right now?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Seems like it's been fitting for a while. I thought overall, the game, we played a good game and didn't get the breaks that we needed to. And these type of games, damage is a big part of it. And a couple homers got you.

But I think that this group -- overall you look at the body of work and how many times we've been in this situation, it seems like a lot, and I know they're going to come out ready tomorrow.

Q. You mentioned the Chapman drive that got picked off the wall. Is that almost the story of his season? You look at the contact numbers and you look at how hard he's hit the ball, how well he's hit the ball, really hasn't had enough to show for it.

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Probably, yeah. He's been pretty consistent with how hard he's been hitting it. And that's just kind of another example of it. The other one with the ball up the middle that almost gets caught that he scorches, too.

But going forward, into tomorrow, hopefully he just stays right there. It's tough when they don't go your way. And today it didn't, but you've got to stick with what you're doing and not chase results.

I think more times than not balls you hit like that are going to be in there for extra bases.

Q. And the five innings you got out of the bullpen it looks like that's the way you would want that thing to run when you're trying to protect the lead, which they weren't today. But what did you see out of them? And the fact that nobody but Hicks threw as many as 15 pitches, how well does that set you up for tomorrow?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I thought they were great today, all of them kind of did their part and made really, really good pitches. It's been them the whole year, really. They've been really, really good the entire year.

I think going into tomorrow it sets us up very well. Everyone will be available. Jordan will be available, too, as well as some other guys that usually don't sit down there. But, yeah, it's all hands on deck tomorrow.

Q. The play with Bo rounding third base, he's obviously trying to make something happen there. Looked like he threw with a stop sign. Were you okay with that aggressiveness or would you like to have that one back?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: I haven't looked at that. It was a hell of a play by Correa. He was standing over by shortstop and he ended up getting the ball. It's the playoffs, guys are trying to make plays. I haven't looked at it closely but I think Correa made a hell of a play.

Q. You mentioned guys who were in the bullpen aren't usually there. Bassitt presumably would be among that group?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Everyone will be available tomorrow except Kevin.

Q. We saw today even you were managing, it seemed, with a sense of urgency, getting guys up early in the game. Are there any ways that might amplify tomorrow where it really is a do-or-die game?

JOHN SCHNEIDER: Yes, you just want to get the best matchups you can. You have to understand we have a very talented pitching group no matter who it is.

Yeah, you've got to win tomorrow to get to the next day and then keep on doing that. You don't want to say like an over-sense of urgency, but these guys know it's going to take everybody to get to Game 3.