NL DIVISION SERIES: BREWERS VS BRAVES

October 9, 2021

Brian Snitker

American Family Field

Atlanta Braves

Postgame 2 Press Conference

Braves - 3, Brewers - 0

Q. Max seemed pretty dominant the last few months. How did this compare and even take it back to what he built on last year postseason?

BRIAN SNITKER: I think the last year's postseason experience probably was great for him today, approaching it. You can just see Max. I mean, as the game wears on, I mean, he just feeds into it. I mean, he's, like you say, really good. He's been really good for a long time now.

And it was fun to watch. He's fun to watch when he's got it going, because he pitches. I mean, he's got the arsenal, the assortment. Spins the ball so well. And it was a great outing.

Q. Matzek getting out of that jam not once, but twice, how big was that?

BRIAN SNITKER: That was huge. Huge. This guy's pitched so many big innings for us. He's not a matchup guy either. He's got really good numbers against right-handed hitters. The slug against him is in the .200s, I think.

He's pitched some really big innings for us over the last couple of years. So that was huge. And those were going through the teeth of their lineup in a very stressful situation.

Q. You said yesterday's game kind of played out the way you expected. Two games in, is this series really not many surprises?

BRIAN SNITKER: No, it's two really well-rounded, solid clubs going at it. And today we got some big hits. And it was another really good ball game. Just exciting, I know that, I guess.

Q. Following up on Matzek, he dropped that 0-2 slider in, they're walking off the field, he does a little spin. He reacts the way you probably want him to react, but I'm sure you've seen pitchers and they get beat on the next pitch, can you talk about --

BRIAN SNITKER: He'd battle things, all that. I think Travis thought it was a strike. To Matzy's credit, he came back and made a better pitch the next one. It was probably a better two-strike pitch than the one before. If the one before was a strike, the other one was one you want to get a swing and miss on.

I credit him for staying in the moment and not letting that -- that's tough to do. In this situation, what he was doing and to do that and keep your composure, and then make an even better pitch the next pitch, that says a lot about Tyler Matzek.

Q. Something similar the next inning, they got the first two guys on, you got two punch outs?

BRIAN SNITKER: It's one of those things why I don't have any hair (laughter).

But you know what, Tyler, he's been so solid. He just keeps pitching. He's durable as he can be. And he just keeps pitching. And he didn't get caught up in situations.

It's been his MO ever since he's been here. And he's a guy -- he's a great story, where he's come from. We go into spring training 2.0 last year -- I asked Alex, what about that left hander that came in and struck everybody out in spring training. He was a fence jumper.

I was getting ready -- can we just put him in our clubhouse? We're going to use him. And then we brought him to 2.0. And he made our club and had an unbelievable year.

Q. Was Max Fried, with his efficiency through six, does getting him out with only 80 pitches or so enable you to use him, if you wanted to?

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah, I think so. The biggest thing about that, like Charlie last night after six and Max after six, he bled it out there in the sixth; he went through the meat of their lineup and expended what I felt was a lot of energy right there, in a real big moment in playoff baseball. Charlie's been through this 100 times. Max is just cutting his teeth with all this.

And I didn't take him out because I was thinking about anything other than winning today's game. And I just thought that after Max went through that inning that he probably mentally more than anything was ready to -- and I like the fact that I got Joc a right-handed at-bat.

Q. I'm curious, you guys had offensive struggles yesterday. Was there any discussion at all about any sort of lineup change at all?

BRIAN SNITKER: No. No.

Q. What do you say about your team's ability again after losing a tough game yesterday, they showed resiliency [inaudible]?

BRIAN SNITKER: I said that this afternoon -- the resiliency these guys show. They'll bounce back on the toughest loss and play a really, really good game. They've done that for years, since I've been here.

I mean, they can turn the page better than I can, believe me, the team can. And I hope, because I always kind of preached that today's the most -- the only thing you can control is today. And I think they all come to the field. They prepare for today's game and don't dwell on anything. And it's a great trait to have for a group of players.

Q. You guys obviously wanted to win two games but you get one and you go home. You take home field advantage.

BRIAN SNITKER: Yeah.

Q. And you go home.

BRIAN SNITKER: You come on the road in the playoffs, you want to split. Obviously you'd love to take two. But if you split, that's a good thing. Now we'll go home, try to win a game on Monday.