NL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS PHILLIES

October 20, 2023

Rob Thomson

Chase Field

Philadelphia Phillies

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Diamondbacks 6, Phillies 5

THE MODERATOR: Starting off with the questions for Rob.

Q. You talked a lot about momentum over the season. It seems like you've convincingly lost it right now. How do you get it back?

ROB THOMSON: You come back tomorrow and play good baseball, and you get your ace on the mound. I think that's the best way to do it.

Yeah, we didn't have momentum at the start of the game, and then we got it back. And then I thought Hoffman and Strahm and Seranthony did a nice job too, but for some reason at the back end of our bullpen, we just didn't throw strikes tonight. It's a rarity.

Q. What's been the biggest issue for Kimbrel lately?

ROB THOMSON: Just strike-throwing ability and being able to command his pitches.

Q. Do you feel like you can still rely on him the way you have this season?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah. I think that he's gone through a couple of spots like this and fought back. But he's an experienced guy, and he has a short memory, and he'll come back.

Q. You know you have Wheeler on the mound tomorrow, but are you concerned how you're going to get through that game given the number of high leverage relievers you've had to use here on back-to-back nights?

ROB THOMSON: We'll check in with them tomorrow and see how many guys we've got available. We're certainly not going to put people in jeopardy, but this is a tough group, and they want to play.

Q. With the amount of guys that have gone back-to-back days, is Ranger in play out of the bullpen tomorrow potentially?

ROB THOMSON: He could be.

Q. As far as Orion, where are you with him?

ROB THOMSON: He's just struggled the last couple of nights, but I still have faith in him too. Tonight maybe he got sped up a little bit. I don't know. You know, he wasn't the only one. I mean, we have to throw strikes. Those guys have great stuff. They have to throw it through the zone.

Q. Why did Kimbrel face Carroll?

ROB THOMSON: Just because really we're trying to not use Alvarado if we absolutely could stay away from him.

Q. Was he ready right there to face Carroll?

ROB THOMSON: Yeah.

Q. Functionally you're running kind of like an 11-man pitching staff. You have two guys on your staff that you really haven't used yet at all. How much do you think that's handcuffed you in these situations here? You've had to lean on a bunch of guys.

ROB THOMSON: Well, both those guys are the length guys really. That's how I see it. And Taijuan is really ready for extra innings if we need it or early in the game if we get down or we have a big lead. And kind of the same thing with Lorenzen.

Q. Will Kimbrel's role change? What will his role be going forward?

ROB THOMSON: We have to talk about it, but do you put him in at a little lower leverage spot? I don't know. I'll talk with Caleb and talk through it and see where we're at.

Q. This was a pretty messy game. You had an error in the second inning. You had a passed ball. I don't know what Cristopher Sanchez was doing there. I don't know if he didn't know the outs.

ROB THOMSON: Yeah, he forgot.

Q. It just seems like that can't happen in a game as big as this, in a moment as big as this.

ROB THOMSON: No, you're right. We have to play better baseball, and that's all there is to it. I thought our at-bats were good tonight. We did make a couple of good plays on defense. But, yeah, the wild pitches and not knowing how many outs there are, that's just a fundamental error.

Q. Sanchez didn't seem to have a feel for his changeup. Do you think the long layoff factored into that?

ROB THOMSON: I don't know. It could be a number of different things. But Caleb was worried about the altitude, how it would affect his changeup and all that stuff. And I thought his stuff was okay. I thought his command was a little bit off tonight, and that could be the effect of the layoff.

Q. Can you speak to what it is about the Diamondbacks? These guys are just hard to put away. What are you seeing out there? What is it about them that makes it so hard to just get rid of them?

ROB THOMSON: They're scrappy. I said that at the start of the series. They're a good team. They can do a lot of different things. They can put pressure on you. You have to alleviate that pressure by throwing strikes, not giving them extra outs, and handling the baseball on defense.

If you do that, you'll eliminate some of that scrappiness.

Q. Do you expect to give Wheeler a longer leash tomorrow given how the bullpen was used?

ROB THOMSON: Not to the point where I'm going to put him in jeopardy with his health.