AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 16, 2023

Marcus Semien

Minute Maid Park

Texas Rangers

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Rangers - 5, Astros - 4

Q. Two things for you. One, have you thought about the fact you're two wins away from playing in the World Series? And that fifth inning, can you take me through as you're watching, bases are loaded, this crowd is ready to go, and Evo gets it done?

MARCUS SEMIEN: Of course. I think that it's definitely one game at a time. We've only had one game at home, we played extremely well. So it will be fun to get back in front of the home crowd. With that being said, Houston has been playing well in that building, too. We need to buckle down when we get there and play some good baseball like we've been doing.

The fifth inning, I said on the broadcast what he did against McCormick with the splitters, but the fifth inning they brought Díaz in, he attacked him, and just felt like they were overly aggressive, and he used that to his advantage. He got Díaz and Altuve and got Bregman to get out of it.

That's what he's done. He's mentally tough. And he's a leader of that pitching staff.

Q. Why do you think you were able to get off to such a hard start against Framber?

MARCUS SEMIEN: He's a guy we've seen a lot. He's made adjustments on us here and there. But the goal for most teams is pretty simple when you face him is get the ball up. He's got a 96-mile-an-hour sinker and a big curveball, a changeup, other pitches, too, that are all going down.

So it's not necessarily about I'm going to swing at every pitch I see, it's about swinging at the pitches up that you can handle. And he gave us some to handle, and we did just enough to put balls in play and make it tough on them.

Q. When you look at Taveras's discipline, have you seen his confidence continue to grow, especially for you and Corey coming up?

MARCUS SEMIEN: He's been great. He works extremely hard every single day. I feel like personally I'm very routine oriented, and he's definitely routine oriented, too. He's learned a lot about his swing, and he plays every day.

And guys who play every day get better faster. He stayed healthy and worked hard to keep his body healthy. And his at-bats have been great in the postseason when it matters.

Q. You had mentioned a moment ago you've seen Framber a lot, had some success against him, and also he had success against you. You added you try not to hit everything he throws, but in the first inning, you were swinging at first pitches. Where is the balance of those two things?

MARCUS SEMIEN: Well, I mean, that's the name of the game. I think that everybody -- most pitchers we're going to face, especially at this point in the ALCS, has elite stuff, 96, 97, with crazy movement and big breaking balls.

The only way to attack those guys is look in a spot and swing when it's there. Sometimes you've got to chase. We're never going to be perfect, but we got enough pitches early in the game to get out to a big lead, and that's what matters.

Q. Was it extra satisfying to get on Framber early given flared tempers earlier this year?

MARCUS SEMIEN: Of course. I think that we played a game earlier this year, we all talked about it, that was a regular season game, this is an ALCS game. It's always going to be in the back of my mind, especially when somebody hits you on purpose, you're always going to remember that.

But we still have a series to play. Today is over. We got the win. We did what we needed to do to beat Framber. The rest of the pitching staff for Houston did well against us, so we'll figure out how to make adjustments against them.