AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 7, 2023

Dusty Baker

Minute Maid Park

Houston Astros

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Q. Dusty, congratulations. What do you think about Yordan Alvarez tonight?

DUSTY BAKER: He was great. That last homer, he set the tone early -- Altuve, actually. The big homer, the two-run homer, and then the homer to give us that insurance run. Those guys over there, they can hit the ball out of the ballpark, which is evident by it looked like we might have gotten out of that inning.

But Yordan, he was great, as usual.

Q. Dusty, what kind of jolt did that give to your team for Altuve to hit that first pitch out of the park there?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, but that's Altuve. There's some guys over there that know Altuve, that played with Altuve, and I'm sure they probably told them what Altuve is really capable of.

That really got the fans into it right away. There was a lot of electricity in the building, and after that homer, that was -- things caught on fire quickly.

Q. When the Twins brought in a lefty to face Yordan Alvarez, did you think something might happen, or what was your mindset with what happened?

DUSTY BAKER: I always think something might happen with Yordan. He hits lefties equally as righties. But that's a move the manager had to make. You have to bring in a lefty for Yordan even though everybody knows he hits them pretty good. I was just hoping that ball stayed fair and hit that chicken sign up there. You know I love chicken.

Q. Was there a point where you felt Verlander was really getting into a groove?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, but his pitch count was getting high when he got into that groove. Early he was forcing his breaking ball. His breaking ball, he couldn't get it over. He got in trouble a couple times early, but if you don't get J.V. early, he usually finds his groove.

He and Maldy were searching for the strike zone, searching for places to go to. We took him as far as we could take him, especially without Graveman there. We were hoping he could go into the seventh, but he had that one inning in the sixth inning where he threw a lot of pitches and got up to 90-some pitches, so we had to go get him.

He gave us all he had like he usually does, and he gave us quality. Even when he doesn't have his great stuff, he still manages to get people out.

Q. What did you make of the performance by your defense today?

DUSTY BAKER: That was -- you know, defense keeps you in the ballgame. Usually J.V. doesn't throw up double plays, but we were hoping for double plays. That's what kept his pitch count relatively low to go into the sixth inning is the fact that we turned some big double plays.

Yeah, defense is something we take pride in and something that we work on daily. Yeah, we're always hollering defense or double play or something to help our offense.

Q. Bryan Abreu had a huge hole today. He hasn't allowed a run since July 15th. From your perspective, what do you see as far as this roll he's been on?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, but don't say that, please. Yeah, the guy is confident. His confidence is high. He's throwing strikes. He's using his fastball and his slider, and he's been great.

Q. Dusty, did Jose Abreu say anything when he came into the dugout after that odd play at second? Was he fooled by Carlos' demeanor there?

DUSTY BAKER: No, he wasn't fooled. I mean, he got a big old lump on his leg. I mean, he got a huge lump on his leg. I mean, Carlos had a helluva tag. I mean, that was one of the quickest tags that you'll ever see. So you've got to give Carlos credit. I didn't even think the catcher was going to throw it, and he probably didn't think he was going to throw it.

I don't blame him for not sliding in that situation with that big old lump on his leg.