AL DIVISION SERIES: TIGERS VS GUARDIANS

October 9, 2024

Spencer Torkelson

Comerica Park

Detroit Tigers

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Detroit - 3, Cleveland - 0

Q. Spencer, where were you at mentally just before your double, trying to break through at the plate a little bit?

SPENCER TORKELSON: Yeah. Just grinding, stay in the fight and just keep going. That's really it. Playoffs you don't get caught up in the numbers. You're just trying to win baseball games, and we were doing that.

So I was pretty happy and felt good to come through there.

Q. Spencer, you guys are a young team, one win away from going to the championship series. You've stayed where your feet were all year, even through this crazy run. How much like anxious are you now, you know, like you're right there at it? Does it change anything? Is it a little bit more not apprehensive but excited about getting it, reaching for it a little?

SPENCER TORKELSON: I said this before. Like we're all human. So we can hear the noise. We know how close we are. But it just goes back to one pitch at a time, one out at a time.

Yeah, that's been our approach since day one of Spring Training, just finding ways to win every single day, and things started to click a couple weeks ago, month ago, whatever it was. So that's what's worked. So if it's not broken, don't fix it.

Q. Spencer, just what were you feeling, you kind of raised your hand when you got to second on that double. What were you feeling in that moment?

SPENCER TORKELSON: That was a great feeling. Colt made it easy, he got on base. Pass ball early in the at-bat. So just tried to keep it as simple as possible, get the job done, no matter how it looked. It felt really good to come through right there.

Q. Tork, just what were your impressions of the atmosphere in general, the fans in the first game here in ten years?

SPENCER TORKELSON: Yeah. Electric. You knew it was coming. You knew that they were going to show up and be loud, and they didn't disappoint. It feels like -- it's so much fun for us to play in front of that many people screaming, and I'm sure it's difficult to play as a visiting team. So it definitely gives us an advantage, and, yeah, I'm super happy.

Q. The mound visits, the pitching changes, we all see it. You see it up close. What is it like as you see one pitcher coming in after another and pitching chaos? What are the conversations like as it goes on?

SPENCER TORKELSON: We have so much trust in A.J. He's a mastermind with handling our pitching staff, handling this team. And we know when he's coming out there, you know, we trust every single move he's going to make. And it goes both ways. The guys that are coming in are getting the job done for him. So they deserve a lot of credit, too.

Q. A.J. was in here just before you, and he said the same thing as you, that stat lines don't matter in the postseason or anything. He also said that any one at-bat that you get and just do one thing, move a runner, make a key play, get a double, and it changes the way you feel about yourself. Is that accurate?

SPENCER TORKELSON: Yeah. That's baseball. It takes one swing, one take sometimes to feel what you want to feel, and right now wins are the most important thing, and it definitely feels good to contribute to those wins.

Q. You've faced Cleveland a lot this year, plus the postseason. As we go deeper here in the ALDS, is it easier for the hitters now that you've seen every pitcher and what they've got and how they're going to approach you?

SPENCER TORKELSON: Yeah. I mean, it's a two-way street, too. They know what they've had success against you with, and you've also seen probably every single pitch they have.

So I would like to say it's advantage hitter. I'm sure pitchers will tell you it's advantage pitcher. But they got a really good pitching staff, and you gotta lock in to every single pitch, every single at-bat because they got some really good stuff.

Q. How have you worked or have you made a point to separate defense from offense? Because it seems like in the field, especially this postseason, you've been more decisive maybe on some ground balls to your right and made some pretty good plays to get outs started.

SPENCER TORKELSON: Just, yeah, I mean, you try not to take offense to defense, defense to offense. You separate them as best you can. But, man, you gotta be on offense when you're on defense, too. You see the ball, you go get the ball. Just trust your instincts and trust your work, and that's really all I've been doing.