David Esquer
"That was playoff baseball at its best. My hats off to Wright State. They're a heck of a team. They competed well. That's a tough offense. I'm really proud of our pitching staff. That's a tough offense to hold down as long as we did, the way we did. We needed every one of our relievers to come in and be successful for us to have a chance. And then obviously the big hit by Christian at the end of the game. Sometimes you don't get a chance to step into playoff baseball and hit your stride. You have to stay in there long enough to get your rhythm. We were trying every way possible to try to score a run and none of it seemed to work. We tried to bunt some guys over and couldn't get the bunt down. I think some of our guys were trying to swing a little big trying to end it. But finally a ground ball down the line won the game for us."
Christian, can you run us through that last at-bat?
"Yeah, he threw a good fastball on the outer half the first pitch and I was just trying to get a base knock and move him over. It just happened to work out."
Tristan, can you talk about your effort tonight and what the bullpen gave you guys?
"First off, it was a great effort by the bullpen for the last seven, eight innings of that game -- whatever it ended up being. Really a great job by teammates sticking with me. Probably not the best way to start off a game (with a leadoff home run) the way I started tonight. It was a great job by the team in general to rally behind us and say that's all they're getting. When they show that kind of fire it's really easy to go out there and pitch ... and push yourself to be better and better every single pitch. I went out there and did that to the best of my ability tonight. I'm thankful that the guys hung in there with me so I could hang in there for them. The bullpen really carried that attitude throughout. We were to hold the game for a guy like Christian to come in and get a big hit."
Did you have to reset after that leadoff homer?
"He jumped a fastball on a 1-0 pitch. Hats off to him. He was ready for it. For better or worse, I'm not new to giving up runs in the first inning. Just last week in Seattle I gave up a three-run home run in the first. I know that at any given time you can put your head down and start over. It's all about the next pitch. Having that short memory and knowing I left that pitch up and he's not getting me on the next one."
(Esquer) Were you surprised Little was a bit wild there in the seventh?
"You know, he probably didn't have his best stuff. He is such a competitor and that's probably a mark of how good he is that he didn't have to be his very best to still give us a great effort. He's had many days when he has his best stuff and everything is working. He labored a little bit for him but he still gave us a great effort and a chance to win."
What was the thought going to Little so early?
"I think the matchups worked right. We had Palisch available as well and I know that Coach Eager felt that we needed to go right-handed at that moment. They had a couple guys who had reverse splits -- a couple left-handers whose batting average was higher against left-handed pitching. We went to Little and everything worked out like we wanted except for the wild pitch, which let the tying run in."
Can you talk about trusting Palisch in the spot your brought him in?
"Obviously you look at his numbers and you know he has pitched big for us all year long. He pitches beyond his years and he has poise. He doesn't shake in the big moments. That's what he has been doing all year for us. Every inning it got to the point we were thinking, 'Can we hold this offense down another inning?' We missed opportunities to score and the bullpen kept giving us another inning and a chance to win."
You had the leadoff hitter on the first six innings and three were doubles. Was there something not coming together to get runs?
"There were a couple times we had a runner at third with less than two outs. Dasch had an opportunity there. And Wulff had an opportunity. We just weren't getting that contact. Maybe it was a little nerves and just not being comfortable in the box in the moment. But hopefully we can get past that and give guys the same opportunities in the next couple games where they can relax and execute."
Tristan, how do you feel you did keeping the fastball down?
"Keeping the ball down has been a big focus for me, especially these last few weeks and throughout the course of the season fastball location in general. The times that I got in trouble, like with the leadoff hitter, I've been leaving it up a little bit. I think after that I really made a mental note to really work on getting that fastball down. Which I think I did really well for a quite a few innings there. In the seventh it kind of snuck up on me and I started letting fastballs go. I have to be better in that aspect and every inning keep my mental notes."
Christian, what did you see from your teammates in the dugout after the game kept going with missed chances?
"It seemed like nobody was really bothered by the missed chances and kind of just waited for someone to come through. I think as the game went on the energy got even higher in the dugout."
"That was playoff baseball at its best. My hats off to Wright State. They're a heck of a team. They competed well. That's a tough offense. I'm really proud of our pitching staff. That's a tough offense to hold down as long as we did, the way we did. We needed every one of our relievers to come in and be successful for us to have a chance. And then obviously the big hit by Christian at the end of the game. Sometimes you don't get a chance to step into playoff baseball and hit your stride. You have to stay in there long enough to get your rhythm. We were trying every way possible to try to score a run and none of it seemed to work. We tried to bunt some guys over and couldn't get the bunt down. I think some of our guys were trying to swing a little big trying to end it. But finally a ground ball down the line won the game for us."
Christian, can you run us through that last at-bat?
"Yeah, he threw a good fastball on the outer half the first pitch and I was just trying to get a base knock and move him over. It just happened to work out."
Tristan, can you talk about your effort tonight and what the bullpen gave you guys?
"First off, it was a great effort by the bullpen for the last seven, eight innings of that game -- whatever it ended up being. Really a great job by teammates sticking with me. Probably not the best way to start off a game (with a leadoff home run) the way I started tonight. It was a great job by the team in general to rally behind us and say that's all they're getting. When they show that kind of fire it's really easy to go out there and pitch ... and push yourself to be better and better every single pitch. I went out there and did that to the best of my ability tonight. I'm thankful that the guys hung in there with me so I could hang in there for them. The bullpen really carried that attitude throughout. We were to hold the game for a guy like Christian to come in and get a big hit."
Did you have to reset after that leadoff homer?
"He jumped a fastball on a 1-0 pitch. Hats off to him. He was ready for it. For better or worse, I'm not new to giving up runs in the first inning. Just last week in Seattle I gave up a three-run home run in the first. I know that at any given time you can put your head down and start over. It's all about the next pitch. Having that short memory and knowing I left that pitch up and he's not getting me on the next one."
(Esquer) Were you surprised Little was a bit wild there in the seventh?
"You know, he probably didn't have his best stuff. He is such a competitor and that's probably a mark of how good he is that he didn't have to be his very best to still give us a great effort. He's had many days when he has his best stuff and everything is working. He labored a little bit for him but he still gave us a great effort and a chance to win."
What was the thought going to Little so early?
"I think the matchups worked right. We had Palisch available as well and I know that Coach Eager felt that we needed to go right-handed at that moment. They had a couple guys who had reverse splits -- a couple left-handers whose batting average was higher against left-handed pitching. We went to Little and everything worked out like we wanted except for the wild pitch, which let the tying run in."
Can you talk about trusting Palisch in the spot your brought him in?
"Obviously you look at his numbers and you know he has pitched big for us all year long. He pitches beyond his years and he has poise. He doesn't shake in the big moments. That's what he has been doing all year for us. Every inning it got to the point we were thinking, 'Can we hold this offense down another inning?' We missed opportunities to score and the bullpen kept giving us another inning and a chance to win."
You had the leadoff hitter on the first six innings and three were doubles. Was there something not coming together to get runs?
"There were a couple times we had a runner at third with less than two outs. Dasch had an opportunity there. And Wulff had an opportunity. We just weren't getting that contact. Maybe it was a little nerves and just not being comfortable in the box in the moment. But hopefully we can get past that and give guys the same opportunities in the next couple games where they can relax and execute."
Tristan, how do you feel you did keeping the fastball down?
"Keeping the ball down has been a big focus for me, especially these last few weeks and throughout the course of the season fastball location in general. The times that I got in trouble, like with the leadoff hitter, I've been leaving it up a little bit. I think after that I really made a mental note to really work on getting that fastball down. Which I think I did really well for a quite a few innings there. In the seventh it kind of snuck up on me and I started letting fastballs go. I have to be better in that aspect and every inning keep my mental notes."
Christian, what did you see from your teammates in the dugout after the game kept going with missed chances?
"It seemed like nobody was really bothered by the missed chances and kind of just waited for someone to come through. I think as the game went on the energy got even higher in the dugout."
