Oct. 7 Corey Kluber and Lonnie Chisenhall postgame interview

October 8th, 2016

Q. Lonnie, over the years you've kind of had the front row seat to how Tito manages the lineup. Today he put you in against Price. How much do you appreciate that he's looking at a variety of factors and you get an opportunity to go in there tonight?
LONNIE CHISENHALL: Yeah, he does a great job of putting us in the best situations possible. And I know, you know, I've benefited from it, you know, tonight and in the past. So I think I have a handful of at-bats against Price in the past, but tonight he wanted the defense out there, so anything I contributed was going to be positive.
But he continues to do what's best for the players and for the team.
Q. Corey, you are a pretty stoic guy, but describe your emotions walking out for the first pitch.
COREY KLUBER: It was a blast. It was obviously a great atmosphere, just like it was last night. I enjoyed it. I think that it was a lot of fun to have a crowd like that, especially that was that into the game.
Q. Corey, the fourth inning a couple walks and one out and you get Ortiz and Ramirez, can you go through getting those two outs?
COREY KLUBER: Yeah, like I said, a couple of walks, kind of shot myself in the foot there. Put us in a hole. Got Ortiz to pop out to shallow center and then with Ramirez, just a matter of trying to execute good pitches. He's obviously a very good hitter and he's swinging the bat really well right now. Trying to, if anything, limit damage, you know. And in the end we were able to get out with no damage.
Q. Lonnie, how hard was it to see out there in the twilight, with the shadows, as a hitter?
LONNIE CHISENHALL: As a hitter? It was a tough day. I think the first six or seven hitters came in and they mentioned not being able to see the ball at all. It was a difficult game time, especially during the regular season when you don't play any games -- or hardly any at 4:30. So we're going to have to deal with situations like that offensively and defensively.
Fortunately the shadows came over pretty quick, I think. I only had to deal with them for one at-bat. It's going to be something that we have to work with.
Q. Lonnie, can you talk about the job Corey did today and just how reassuring it is when he takes the mound to know you have such a good chance to win every time he goes out there?
LONNIE CHISENHALL: Yeah, you kind of know what to expect. He is going to be around the zone. He's going to be sinking the ball, cutting the ball. Usually there's not a whole lot going on defensively. The ball is usually on the ground. He's taken the ball every start he's had to. And it was fun to have him out there today. I know I enjoy playing behind him. I know everybody else does. Look forward to see him in Game 4.
Q. Lonnie, can you just kind of take us through the moment of the home run. Looked like you obviously got pretty pumped up there. And on top of that what do you think the way the team has treated these games, just like regular games and the lack of postseason experience hasn't really shown.
LONNIE CHISENHALL: Yeah, like I said, it was tough to see that first at-bat. I was kind of looking for something out over the plate. Price is very aggressive, he's usually around the zone. He missed in twice, but I continued to look over the plate. Fortunately I reacted to that ball in and was able to keep it fair.
I don't remember too much running around the bases. I remember seeing it go out and I knew it was a home run, so I slowed down pretty quickly. It was a quick run around the bases.
But as far as no postseason experience for the guys, besides that one game in '13, which we had a handful of guys, we haven't seen a lot of postseason. So the coaches, the staff, everybody is treating it like the regular season. I know the hitters are trying to be as normal as possible with routines. There are a few extra hoops to jump through, but you try to limit the extra stuff and limit the noise.
Q. Corey, with the crowd, when were you confident that you'd be able to go today? And through the game today what precautions did you take to protect it?
COREY KLUBER: I didn't take any precautions. I think that I was able to get a couple of bullpens in between the last game that I pitched and today. So I didn't really have any concerns about it coming into today. I got after it pretty good my last bullpen. And that was kind of the last hurdle, so to speak, I guess, was getting after it for some pitches. And I think once I was able to do that and not having any issues with it, it wasn't really in my mind. I think I was more focused on trying to go out there and execute a game plan.
Q. Corey, kind of similar to what Lonnie was talking about earlier, it looked like you were trying to keep your routine, between innings routine. How much did you treat this like another start and how much did you try to feed off the differences, especially adrenaline-wise and intensity-wise?
COREY KLUBER: Obviously there's longer breaks in between. I think it's usually a minute longer. I just -- I realized that last night and just tried to figure out what time I usually come out and that way once I do come out of the dugout it pretty much stays as normal as you can make it. I think there's obviously extra adrenaline stuff, it's a bigger stage or whatever you want to call it.
But I think we've done a good job this far, and I think we're going to continue to just go play baseball. In the end it's still the same game and I think that we have a good team and I think that so far we've been able to just go out there and play as we usually do, and that's what we're going to be doing going forward.