MLB WORLD SERIES: DIAMONDBACKS VS RANGERS

October 31, 2023

Bruce Bochy

Chase Field

Texas Rangers

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Rangers - 11, Diamondbacks - 7

Q. Andrew Heaney gave you five strong innings allowing only one run. Did that take a lot of pressure off your bullpen?

BRUCE BOCHY: He did a great job, didn't he? That's about where we wanted him. We were hoping to get five innings. Terrific job. We had some guys that got some work in.

It got a little sloppy there at the end, but some guys needed to be out there. But he did a nice job setting the tone there a little bit.

Of course the offense exploded tonight. That's always a good thing.

Q. You've had a lot of things happen in your career, but, I don't know if ever had a World Series game where two of your top players had to be kind of ILed right before the game. How did you handle that, and how did the team handle it? They came out like gangbusters.

BRUCE BOCHY: Right. We've dealt with it all year, to be honest. And I said this earlier, before the game, I couldn't be more proud of these guys, how they bounce back, how resilient they are, how they've dealt with things, whether it's losing streaks, whether it's injuries.

You can't do anything about it. You know they're going to happen occasionally. What's important is how you handle it. And they just have handled it all so well the whole year. So I wasn't worried about how they would handle this.

Q. Did you have to say anything or just let it go?

BRUCE BOCHY: No, they're professionals. They felt bad for Doli. We all did. But you've got to move on. You've got to focus forward. That's what we did.

Q. When you guys see an opponent is lining up a bullpen game, which is generally going to be the lower leverage, middle relievers out the gate, knowing the offense you have, do you guys sense it's an opportunity to pounce early?

BRUCE BOCHY: I'll say this, when you are going against a team that is doing a bullpen day -- which we've done occasionally -- it can be a challenge. Because you're seeing a different guy every time up. So it's not about who they are or where they pitch as far as leverage situations.

They're throwing good arms at us. We just had some guys that had some really nice days. I mean Marcus and Corey, and, of course, Jankowski. Really a lot of guys did some good things there tonight.

No, you don't take anything for granted, trust me, because they're professional pitchers over there. They've done very well with their bullpen days. We knew that, and they can do their matchup deal. You just gotta go out there and compete.

Q. You've seen a lot of baseball over the decades. The opener strategy is something we've seen in the last few years. What do you think of that sort aesthetically? It's unusual to see it on the World Series stage. What do you think of that whole strategy in general?

BRUCE BOCHY: Well, I'll be honest, I'm not a big fan of it during the season. It's being done a lot, but I understand if you don't have a starter to fit in that slot there, you have to do, you have to adapt to your club.

I'm not saying it's not a good thing. You're in a World Series. You've got to do what you can to win a ball game. But I'm saying, in general -- and that's kind of my thinking over the years because I do think fans love matchups. Certain pitchers, things like that, which you'll see the next few days.

But it's part of the game now. And with analytics and things like that, or setting up the strategy, how they get through a game when you don't have a starter to go in that game.

Now, to be honest, we were in a similar role tonight. Our guy, he was rolling, so we stuck with him out there.

Q. Can I ask you, you've been in this situation before. You've been in this game for so many years, but what does it feel like to be one game away from accomplishing what you want to accomplish?

BRUCE BOCHY: The only thing I'm thinking tomorrow, we've got to come out and play our best game. I don't mean to cliché that, but it is. That's how you look at it. You don't look where you're at. Your focus has to be on tomorrow's game, going out there, doing all you can to win a ball game. That's where we have to be thinking. That's where our minds have to be.