NL WILD CARD SERIES: BRAVES VS PADRES

October 1, 2024

Mike Shildt

Petco Park

San Diego Padres

Postgame Press Conference

Padres - 4, Braves - 0

Q. Before the game, I mentioned it was eye opening Cease was going Game 3. I rescind that question. What did you think of King?

MIKE SHILDT: I think it was special tonight. I was talking to Darren (phonetic) on the way up here. First debut, I think I'm getting it right, first debut pitcher in a playoff game to throw seven innings with no walks or runs scored. Clearly a lot of strikeouts -- 12 punch-outs.

I thought he was fantastic, everything was working. His misses where he wanted them to be. I thought he and Higgy were on the same page. He was really good sinker, you could see a lot of movement. Change-up was filthy. And the sweeper/slider was good as well. He really pitched exceptionally well.

Q. Any sort of thought of bringing him back out with 89 pitches or was that just it?

MIKE SHILDT: That was it. He had done his part. He had gone over 100 a couple times. We have a good bullpen. He'd done his part. They'd turned over the lineup for the fourth time. His night was done and done in very, very impressive fashion.

Q. What kind of tone did Tatis set there in the first inning?

MIKE SHILDT: It was pretty special. Said it right from the beginning, laser to left. And Tati didn't waste anytime. Got a pitch you can hit and put a big boy swing on it. That was huge to get us up.

Nice to add on that second inning, too, with some good at-bats. And Solano with a good at-bat and Higgy with the sac fly and Higgy with the damage late. That was enough.

Q. You were in the visiting dugout when Tatis hit his first postseason home run?

MIKE SHILDT: Really? (Laughter). Yeah, I was.

Q. Might have been a few dozen people in the stands. How did this compare the way this place erupted?

MIKE SHILDT: Yeah, I mean it's a good time to talk about our faithful. We knew they were going to show up. We knew they were going to get after it. But this was really, really electric night, electric scene. Really loud. This place gets so loud and they're just into it.

This is as loud a stadium as we're going to play in. And it's good to have it on our side.

Relative to the different homers, it was clearly a big homer in Game 2, three-run homer. But this one was clearly in front of a jam-packed house.

Q. Any opinion or reaction about Kyle Higashioka with the work with King and the rest of the bullpen and also to get another home run to take the advantage?

MIKE SHILDT: It was impressive, sac fly earlier. He and Michael have worked well together. He's done a nice job acclimating to Adam in the bullpen. I thought He did a nice job, complete game for Higgy all the way around.

Nice job by Suarez too. We may get to that. But I thought he threw the ball very well. Got a little soft single, but after that got a soft ground ball and the ground ball that Manny makes, a nice play to end it. Just good, clean game.

Q. The at-bats after Shawver left, what do you think of the approach and -- but before Higgy's home run?

MIKE SHILDT: You know, they put together some innings where we couldn't do anything consistently. I thought their bullpen did a nice job. Bummer got us on the ground a little bit. We just weren't able to string anything together.

Q. Did it ever feel like a team over there that had flown across the country, had endured what they had the last 48 hours?

MIKE SHILDT: It didn't for me. They're professional. A lot of good players. We knew they were going to show up.