NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 7, 2023

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Phillies 3 - Braves 0

Q. Snitker, I know nights like this happen, but is there anything you can pinpoint about your offense tonight that maybe was it just their pitching or just an off night?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, I think it was their pitching. I thought Suárez did a really good job of mixing using all of his pitches. He located his fastball really well. The change up was really good. He did a great job. I think that's going to happen, and I think it was more their pitching than our hitting.

Q. Seemed like a big moment was the two strikeouts by Seranthony Domínguez at the top of your lineup. Can you address what that moment was like for you?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, we had a few. I think there was three times in the game I felt like we had a chance to pierce the gap and get something going. Those were big outs.

Obviously there was a bunch of big outs. Probably none bigger than Ozzie's that Turner dove and turned the double play. He hit that ball really well. It's one of those things that happen sometimes. The pitching shut us down.

Q. You alluded to their pitching, their bullpen. It seems like it's so much better than it used to be. They have all these hard throwers.

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah. I think they did a great job of addressing their bullpen issues from last year, and they got multiple weapons that they can go to.

Q. Just moving forward, they were very active on the base pass. Can you guys contain them?

BRIAN SNITKER: We'll have to do a better job than we did. That's for sure. We knew that coming in, that they're aggressive. It's one of those things. Murph made a couple of really good throws.

Overall, they're very opportunistic, and they got a lot of guys with a lot of success in stealing bases, too. We're going to have to do a better job holding the ball and things like that.

Q. I know it's just one win, but it's one win for them on your home field in a short series. So how daunting?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. You know what, we gotta regroup and come back and win Monday right now, really. We got a really good pitcher that I feel really good about on the mound, and we can't, I don't think, dwell on that. I mean, we just gotta look forward to the next game.

Q. And one more thing, I know your explanation before the game on the lineup change for the batting order change. Do you feel in retrospect guys were less comfortable at all?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. When you get in the batter's box, they don't know where they're hitting. No, I don't. You know what, you get in there, and it doesn't matter. No.

Q. The Phillies obviously are going to have their two aces coming up. Can you just address the prospect of facing Wheeler and Nola?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's tough. Those are tough rides. I'll tell you that. They're two of the really, really -- two of the game's best, I think, competitors, stuff, the whole thing. It's not an easy task, but you know what, we've been through it before.

Q. Snitker, I don't know if there really was any explanation, but the catcher's interference, what did you see --

BRIAN SNITKER: All I had was the big board. I looked, and Murph didn't say anything, and I don't know that a hitter reacts like that. Things happen too quick for a guy to react like that if it didn't happen, but I couldn't tell off the video there.

Q. Snitker, we all saw Strider yelling at Kranny there. Was he saying he wanted to stay in the game?

BRIAN SNITKER: He told me he wanted to stay -- he does every time I go through it. How many starts did you make this year. Every time he came out of the game, most of the time, he's yelling at me that he wants to stay. And he said, I'm good, I'm good.

But you know what, he did his job. He did a great job. And there wasn't any reason to continue to push him. And you know what, the adrenaline gets going. These guys are competitors. I wouldn't expect him just to come in in a game like that and want to come out of the game.

But I told him, you did your job. And if somebody said that, it's just kind of, you know what, in the spur of the moment thing and he's coming off there with lot of adrenaline going on, and it's hard to contain that sometimes, which is awesome. That's what makes this kid great.

Q. The pitch that Bryce Harper hit, it didn't look like it was a bad pitch. What can you say about this guy and what he does in big moments?

BRIAN SNITKER: Well, he is. He's a big gun-type player. He's a Hall-of-Famer. It doesn't surprise me when he does great stuff. You gotta really make pitches on him. Things like that are going to happen.

We didn't score, so it didn't really matter. But he's definitely a guy that you're aware of where he's coming around and where he's at in the batting order because he's proven that he loves this stage.

Q. Going back to the catcher's interference, but the fans' reaction of throwing stuff on the field?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. We're out there. There's no excuse for that. I've been on that field when that's happened and it's scary because those water bottles when they come, they're like grenades, and it could really seriously injure one of our players. That's uncalled for.