AL DIVISION SERIES: RANGERS VS ORIOLES

October 8, 2023

Brandon Hyde

Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Texas Rangers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Texas 11, Baltimore 8

Q. Just what wasn't working for Grayson today?

BRANDON HYDE: The four walks hurt. He had a lot of -- he was getting ahead of quite a few hitters there, especially in that big inning, just had a tough time putting guys away. Some 1-2 counts and 0-2 hits. Just tough time finishing guys and the guys he didn't, he was working behind in the count and the other time with four walks. But just a young starter that just didn't have his best stuff from the get-go.

Q. You've talked about this team's resiliency all year, we've written about it. This obviously is the biggest test now that you face here. How much do you believe in this team's ability to come back?

BRANDON HYDE: Our backs are against the wall right now and tonight wasn't our best night on the mound. Give them a lot of credit for being down 9-2 and then giving ourselves a chance, getting some baserunners, scratching away a little bit. We have to go to Texas and play well. We haven't played our two best games here. We played well on the road all year, so hopefully we can play well on the road.

Q. Well, just the way Texas is swinging the bat right now, how hard are they to match up with especially using the bullpen.

BRANDON HYDE: Yeah, it's a good offense, and it's been a really good offense all year, but we also walked 11 of them. Not doing yourself any favors.

Q. Did you consider bringing in Jack Flaherty in the third inning a little bit earlier there?

BRANDON HYDE: In the third inning I had a lot of game left. I pretty much used everybody available. So when I brought in -- started with Baker against the bottom of the order there, I was hoping he'd give us an inning. That didn't work out. Webby gave up the grand slam and went out and pitched the next inning. I thought Jack did an okay job giving us two innings in the middle part of the game.

Q. Do you think the Texas Rangers runs almost strategically called time outs today on Grayson early in the game. It seemed like when he had two strikes there were a lot of time-outs called.

BRANDON HYDE: I think that's pretty uniform around the league. Most hitters when they're getting to two strikes, they calling time-outs. I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.

Q. What was the significance of Kyle Gibson warming up in the 9th?

BRANDON HYDE: That was it. So Gibby was a pitcher if it was going to -- I was going to have Cano go back out for the 10th if we tied it, but Gibby was going to be pitching after that. He wanted a little touch and feel off the mound.

Q. Do you think the day off tomorrow can be good for you guys?

BRANDON HYDE: Good for our pitching right now, since I used everybody tonight. Hopefully we get to regroup the next day off and work out tomorrow and be ready to go in a couple of days.

Q. With Kyle, just to follow up, is there anything we can read into that as far as Tuesday, Wednesday is concerned?

BRANDON HYDE: No. We need to win the next game. Pretty much everybody is going to be available the next -- two days from now.

Q. Jorge Mateo had a great game. How good is that to see?

BRANDON HYDE: Yeah, I was hoping Jorge could be a little spark for us and he was. When he gets on base, it's exciting. And when he gets on base, he scores the majority of the time. Good to see him swing the bat the way he did. Been swinging well against left hand pitching the second and he played a nice game offensively for us.

Q. How about Hicks, showing some postseason experience at the end?

BRANDON HYDE: Yeah, no doubt. Hicks is coming to play, did a great job. Huge three-run homer there to -- you know, if O'Hearn hits that ball to the wall in the opposite field. We did give ourselves a chance, we just came up short.