NL DIVISION SERIES: PHILLIES VS BRAVES

October 9, 2023

Brian Snitker

Truist Park

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Braves 5 - Phillies 4

Q. Snitker what's going through your mind on that last play and is that about as thrilling --

BRIAN SNITKER: There's so much that went through my mind. I didn't know if he was going to run out of room. And after he caught it, you go hoarse yelling. Great play by Austin. Great play by Michael, number one, but then the wherewithal to continue to watch the play and make the big out.

Q. With Austin, he had that walk off in the NLCS a couple of years ago. How cool was that to see him?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. It was good. That was obviously a really big at-bat, and he just fought the heck out of it. And I wasn't sure when he hit it initially if it was going to go. And them big strong guys get that ball up in the air, man, they just keep carrying. That was a big time.

Q. What can a win in that kind of fashion do for you guys the rest of the series?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's not going to do bad. I know that. Be good to -- you know, we got another day off tomorrow, and we travel and all that. But that's good, because like I say, we had, I don't know, 13 innings or 14 innings of not a lot going on.

So it was good to see. I think they finally amassed a few at-bats after the layoff and kind of got back in their groove a little bit.

Q. In that match up, Wheeler versus d'Arnaud, were you somewhat surprised that he kept Wheeler in for that? Were you also maybe happy about it?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. As I say, Travis is one of those guys that never panics in an at-bat. He grinds through at-bat. He's got a slow heartbeat, and he got a pitch and didn't miss it.

Q. Pregame you say you weren't ready to announce your Game 3 starter yet. Are you ready now?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. We're still talking about that this evening, and probably into the morning as we process a lot of things and see how we want to go, honestly.

Q. Wheeler was in control against you all for the first few innings. Were you stressing to the guys just be patient, just do anything to get him out of the game?

BRIAN SNITKER: Honestly, I don't say anything to them. They know what they're up against. They've faced him before. They know how good he is. I just have faith in those guys that, you know what, they give you a hard 27.

Even if the first few aren't, they're never going to stop fighting in the batter's box. And they know what a tough match up that is with that guy because, like I say, he's one of the game's best.

Q. Obviously d'Arnaud used to be Wheeler's catcher back in New York. He's got a good career numbers off him. Was that one of the reasons he started tonight?

BRIAN SNITKER: You know what, I've been matching he and Max up more than anything. When Max came back, they kind of started clicking. So I had kind of started pairing them off together as much as anything.

And Travis had had a little success off Zack also. So all things included, I guess you'd say.

Q. What about Max Fried, he came out of the game. What about the arm and blister situation?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. No. His fingers are fine. His fingers came out fine. And I think with Max, the biggest thing is he hasn't pitched in 18 days. So I think that's more than anything. But he felt good, and I think it was just, you know, Max is a feel guy, and he hadn't been out there other than one day last week.

So to me, he did a great job gutting through that thing and keeping the game manageable.

Q. What about the bullpen as a whole?

BRIAN SNITKER: They did a great job. They did a great job heading the ball off. And we kind of just had the mindset that we wanted to use the guys to try and keep the game there and give our offense a chance to come back.

Q. When Acuña was able to score on that error, it seemed to give your all's offense some life for the first time in that series?

BRIAN SNITKER: First thing he'd done to really give ourselves lives life. It was kind of nice to score a run. It'd been a while. But that was good heads-up play by Ronald.

I mean, he didn't put his head down. He stayed aware, watched the ball and got a great jump when they bobbled a little bit. But you know what, things like that have a way of kind of all of a sudden, the dug out is like, okay, it's okay, and then they kind of started energizing themselves a little bit.