AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS GUARDIANS

October 5, 2024

Lane Thomas

David Fry

Progressive Field

Cleveland Guardians

Postgame 1 Press Conference

Cleveland - 7, Detroit - 0

Q. Lane, you talked yesterday about looking forward to playing in front of this crowd. What was it like after you hit that home run, the sound, what were your emotions at that point?

LANE THOMAS: It was electric. I think it was everything I had thought and more. It was really cool, you know, to watch the first four guys take unbelievable at-bats and then kind of come through for them there, it was cool.

Q. David, going after Steven hit that double to start this game off, how good did it feel to know that he had started that and generated that energy for you guys?

DAVID FRY: Yeah, it was awesome. Obviously we wanted to get out to a really good start, and Kwan usually doesn't swing at the first pitch, and he was like, I'm going to swing. Of course, the guy throws a ball and he didn't swing. But I knew he was going to be ready to go. And he hit that double, and the crowd went nuts, and we were just hoping to kind of extend the inning and ended up getting it to Tommy, and he had a pretty good at-bat.

Q. For either of you guys, how difficult is it to do what you guys did today? You had six days off. The question of rust versus rest, and for you guys to explode in the first inning like you did. I guess David.

DAVID FRY: Yeah, our coaching staff did a really good job of preparing us for this. We had live at-bats all week, hitting off the machine, just different things that we could do to kind of stay ready, stay on top of like velocity and that kind of thing. And then right out of the gate Kwan hits a double and it's like, all right, we're ready to go. Same game.

Q. Lane, what pitch were you looking for when you came to bat and did you get that pitch?

LANE THOMAS: Yeah. I had faced him earlier on in the season before I got here. And I thought in that situation that I was either going to get a fastball kind of in off the plate or something soft that I could hit in the air and at least score that run from third. So I kind of picked one or the other and got the one I was looking for and put a good swing on it.

Q. David, I think you were only half joking the other day when you said you and Hedgey say how quickly do we get the ball to Cade Smith, but what has this bullpen meant to this team and what is it like now to see them doing it on that stage?

DAVID FRY: Yeah. Kind of what we expected they would look like in a postseason game. But it's just so amazing what they've done, and it gives Vogt and the rest of our staff such -- just an easier job of like -- I mean we have our ace going in. Bibee was doing really well. He was great. But it's just so comforting being like, all right, Cade Smith, here you go. You're going to strike out pretty much everybody you face, and that's what he does all year. Even today we were joking about it in the dugout, like, what do you think, Cade Smith in the second? It's just -- they're that good.