Q. At what point did you envision getting outs in the ninth inning from Kershaw, because this afternoon you were pretty adamant about not doing that?
DAVE ROBERTS: I was. I was. And that was the plan going in. But Clayton came to me in the seventh and said, you know, just understanding that Kenley was pitching from the seventh inning on, and said that he had an inning if I needed it.

So at that point in time, I talked to the training staff and got the ok. I just felt that Kenley was going to go out there and give us everything he had; and for that Murphy at-bat, I wanted Clayton, and so I felt good about it.

Q. Under what circumstance would Kenley have been allowed to finish, if he doesn't allow any runners?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, if he wouldn't have allowed any runners. But I think for me, as I just set the groundwork for Clayton. If it got to Murphy, he was going to get Murphy.

Q. Seventh inning, that lasted an hour and six minutes, again, we touched on Kershaw coming in. Everything about this game, Max Scherzer just said it was the craziest game he's been a part of or seen. How would you assess it?
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, I think that when I look back at all the things that happened, I definitely echo that. It's just one of those things that when you're in the middle of a game, you're trying to count outs and shorten the game and put guys in the best position to have success on the offensive side, the defensive side.

You know, for us, it starts with Rich to give us what he had on short rest, and you go to Joe Blanton to give us one-plus. You've got Julio, and there's so many guys that really played a huge role, and obviously Kenley throwing more than he's ever thrown.

Just up and down the line, and obviously Clayton to come back on two days; to still go out there and finish an inning, and Chooch coming up with the big hit. You can go on and on, but I think for us, honestly that's kind of been the M.O. of our ballclub all year long.

Q. With Kenley, what were you thinking and at what point were you going batter with him as far as letting him stay in the game?
DAVE ROBERTS: I think can Kenley it was a situation where I talked to him earlier today and said that there might be an opportunity to come in in the seventh inning if a certain part of the lineup was up, and that part of the lineup was Trea Turner.

And so after Grant gave up the homer and the base hit to Cliff Robertson, I felt that for me it was an opportunity to get Kenley in there, and just ride him as long as we could.

Q. Obviously you're satisfied with winning this series, but also having to piece this together the way you did, you must get some satisfaction out of that, right?
DAVE ROBERTS: You know what, it's all about the players. The players just giving me, the coaches, an opportunity to try to navigate. And I think that with players to buy in and trust that we're doing the right things, that's first and foremost. But these are conversations that me, the front office, we have daily, about just kind of forward-thinking, being open-minded to how you can use guys in certain roles. And today was a prime example.

Q. What tipped you off that Kenley was at the end of his rope and that that was time to go to Clayton?
DAVE ROBERTS: You know what, I knew that Clayton was going to get Murphy if it came to it. But I think that just seeing a little bit of -- obviously you look at the pitch count. That's way more than he's ever thrown. So I think for me, I just wanted to get him through Werth. I went out to the mound to just ask him to get one more hitter in Jayson Werth, and he completed. Ultimately, Werth had earned a walk, but it really wasn't hitter to hitter until I wanted him to get through Werth.

Q. When Joc hit the home run, Scherzer had good stuff the first six innings. What did that do in terms of, his celebration lit up the dugout, but psychologically for the bats because then they started really moving.
DAVE ROBERTS: Yeah, they did. And I think it's one of those things that Max was lights-out, he really was, for six innings and we really couldn't get anything going and he got out of some traffic earlier. But after that homer to tie the game, it just gave us a chance to exhale a little bit.

And then we got some hits together and you know, that big hit by Chooch, coming off the bench and Chase being unselfish to be a veteran player like he is to be hit for by Chooch; that was just a huge hit.

Q. Going back to the idea of being forward-thinking with the bullpen usage, stop me if this is two steps ahead of where you are right now, but do we see Kenley come in in the seventh inning and the eighth inning starting Game 1 in Chicago? Is this a template for you going forward?
DAVE ROBERTS: You know what, I can't -- I'm not going to answer that right now. I think that this elimination game, where we had to win today to get to the next round; so I think that right now, you know, we'll revisit that.