AL DIVISION SERIES: TWINS VS ASTROS

October 8, 2023

Rocco Baldelli

Minute Maid Park

Minnesota Twins

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Twins - 6, Astros - 2

Q. You mentioned yesterday how much confidence you had in Lopez in this situation. What did you see early that gave you an indication he was going to be this good tonight?

ROCCO BALDELLI: I think he was completely locked in, and not just his intent. He was just so sharp. I mean, the stuff, anyone watching can see the stuff is exceptional, but I think he had tremendous feel for his pitches today.

He was able to get through the first few innings with a relatively low pitch count, which gives you -- it encourages you, meaning me and Pete Maki and us in the dugout, to want to let him keep going. To me, it was not that difficult of a decision tonight to let Pablo pitch, and he pitched.

Q. Just how important was it to get those early runs from Carlos and Kyle?

ROCCO BALDELLI: We come in here playing against a good team. We do lose the first game, you want to come out. You want to establish yourself, establish something, make the other team play from behind a little bit. It changes things.

We get the runs, and then our pitcher goes out there and just continues to sit them down. I mean, that's what you're -- you're always wanting to see. You look for those momentum swings. How much do they matter? I couldn't tell you how much they matter, but I think they matter, and I think everyone else in the dugout thinks they matter.

So when you go out there and pop some runs and put some runs on the board and your guy goes out there and sits them right down, that gets everyone kind of going. You start riding that inning after inning.

Then you feel -- in the moment you want to feel like your guy's untouchable and that you can play with full confidence because you have a guy on the mound that's throwing the ball that well.

Q. Everyone knows Carlos' October reputation, but what's it been like watching him impact every game so far, especially today?

ROCCO BALDELLI: We've always heard all of the sayings and things, when the lights come on and the bright lights, there are some guys, they're giants in the light, and he's one of them. That's what he is.

He's always an excellent player, but when it matters most, it's like he can really take his attention and channel it and focus it and just play even better over and over again. It's not by chance. It's definitely not the lottery here. He keeps hitting right at the right time.

No, this is a lifetime of work in the making when you see him step on the field to do these things. We're not surprised. We took the guy, hit him right in the middle of the lineup today for a reason because we believe that he's going to go out there and do things like that. And to keep doing it, it's hard to do, but he keeps doing it.

Q. Was part of the approach against Valdez to maybe take some borderline pitches early, grind out some longer at-bats just to kind of make him work or at least make him get into the strike zone?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Well, I won't go into our full approach and just what we're talking to our hitters about, but he's got a good curveball. I mean, he's just -- he's a good pitcher. He also from the left side comes from a little bit of a unique spot, where he stands on the mound, where the ball comes in. He's just very different. So his pitches look very different than almost any other lefty that you'll see in this league.

You know, he's got the breaking ball that he can induce a lot of swings, and it is a hard pitch to lay off. If you're able to lay off that pitch, you're almost looking for that kind of backdoor funk pitch that kind of goes like this, and you're trying to hit that pitch much more so than you're going to want to swing at the one that starts in the middle. But it's not easy to lay off.

If you're able to lay off it, more power to you. You're going to have a better chance because you're just not expanding. He's really tough, and you have to be disciplined when you face him.

Q. Rocco, in the middle of Carlos' at-bat and the bases loaded double, there was an umpires conference, and they talked to you. What was all that about?

ROCCO BALDELLI: That's a great question. I can't even remember. Does anyone know which one that was? Oh, so when Carlos was at the plate -- yeah, when I went out there, it was because he was in the stretch, then he was in the windup, within the at-bat, and that didn't sound right to us.

I got some clarification, though, from the umpires that he's not a guy that's a hybrid guy. So he's not -- because he's not deceiving anyone as to whether or not he's in the windup or the stretch, he can change and go from the windup into the stretch if he decides to.

I wasn't so sure about that. Some of the rules get a little bit -- they get a little odd, but it was good clarification. I believe that's correct, upon hearing it, but the rule is set because, when you don't know if a guy is in the windup, which a lot of guys are in that kind of middle position, you're not allowed to deceive the hitter in that way.

As long as it's clear whether or not -- if he's standing straight up and he goes in the stretch within the at-bat, apparently that's okay.

I just wanted to know. So if we have to ask a question, we go out there and just ask.

Q. On the two bunts in the fifth inning with Jeffers, were you hoping to -- was that plan trying to get Royce on third and the squeeze bunt there? Also, was Polanco's his own choice before that?

ROCCO BALDELLI: Yeah, Polo's was on his own. Jeffers, we occasionally will safety and try to get something going in that way, try to tack on a run at that point in the game. It's been something -- it's been good to us this year as a whole. Today it didn't work out.

Royce is running better. He is moving noticeably better than he was even just last week. So we can do some things with him. Maybe not everything, but we can do some things with Royce even on third.