AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 18, 2021

Christian Arroyo

Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox

Pregame 3 Press Conference

Q. How would you explain the success of this team, everybody before the season predicted them no better than fourth. How would you explain the success?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Yeah, I think the success of our team kind of comes from -- I think it comes from the top all the way down to the bottom. I think it's utilizing our entire roster, putting people in good situations to succeed, but, yeah, our coaching staff has helped everyone in one way, shape, or form, and that's obviously huge, but it's just the true belief with everyone coming together for that same goal and same purpose in mind and coming to the yard every day and trying to win ballgames.

So, yeah, we've been doing a really, really good job of that. We want to continue that success here in the postseason, but we've been doing it all year. Dealing with the ups, dealing with the downs, and really proud of the group we have here.

Q. Can you talk about their great double-play combo?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: It's just one of those things where you play with someone long enough. Obviously, Bogey and I haven't played too much together. If you go back to last year, the last two weeks of the season and then this season. You kind of build camaraderie with guys, but I think that's just more of a testament to Bogey as a shortstop. He is really, really easy to kind of get used to. Good feeds all the time, and, obviously, is really good at turning a double play.

Yeah, I mean, we've grown to be comfortable with each other, and we just -- we're comfortable with what we can do individually.

Q. I was talking about the Houston double-play combo.

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Oh, their double-play combo? That's an easy one, Correa and Altuve are phenomenal players. Their double-play combo is one of the best in baseball, if not the best in baseball. They've obviously played together for five or six years now. They've had a lot of success. Regular season, postseason. They've won a World Series and stuff.

But, yeah, and even getting to talk to them during the game and stuff, stand-up guys, and they are comfortable with each other. You watch them play, and they're just very comfortable with what one another can do.

I mean, they're two really, really talented players. It's really fun to compete against them.

Q. The defense, speaking of the defense, and you talked about you and Bogey, but team-wide, the defense has been really clean here in the postseason run, and it wasn't like that consistently all season. What do you think has been the biggest difference? And going through it for the first time for you in the playoffs, the pressure, where every play means so much, does that make you more focused? How does that all come together?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Yeah, I think it definitely makes you more focused. I feel like sometimes that the defense during the season, you know, it's similar to hitting. You can kind of get your ups and your downs where the ball just doesn't really find your glove or it does. But for us, I mean, we have really, really, really focused on when we would struggle and have a bad game defensively during the season, we really try to focus on cleaning that up because we knew that -- I mean in the Big Leagues when you give teams more than those 27 outs, they have a tendency to take advantage of them.

So our biggest thing is to try to have the cleanest 27 outs that we can, come out, and if we can do that, we like the way -- with the way our pitching staff has been pitching and the way our lineup has been swinging, we like our chances of winning games, especially when you are playing quality, solid defense.

Q. Similarly, in the last week of the season or so, you guys struggled a bit offensively. What would you describe the team's approach? What's been allowing the success you guys have had in the postseason? What have you seen that's different?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Yeah, I think that last week of the season, obviously, we were scoreboard-watching every game, and it's really easy when you are down two or three runs and then you see that another team that's either chasing you or is right in front of you is up by two or three. You kind of get that sense of urgency of -- it feels like a bigger deficit than it is. Going into that Washington Nationals game, we were down, what, 5-1 I think it was at one point going into the fourth or fifth inning, and we were looking at the scoreboard and we're seeing that the Blue Jays were winning against the Orioles, and I think at the time I still think the Yankees and Rays might have been tied or something. I can't remember. But for us it was just, like, hey, we have to take care of business ourselves. We have to win ballgames and put ourselves in a situation. We still have to win.

So I think the last week there were some times, maybe some innings where we tried to press a little too much. And I think sometimes you get into a situation where that one guy maybe wants to be the hero, and, obviously, it's always great to be that guy, but at the same time it's -- there's nine hitters in our lineup, and I think we've done a really, really good job and actually did a really good job making that adjustment of putting together big innings by getting guys on base and having quality plate appearances and continuing to roll with our approach and our plan and sticking with what we wanted to do at the plate.

Q. To follow up on that, are you seeing anything with your guys' two-strike approach in the playoffs?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: For sure. I think that in the playoffs especially, but this is just for baseball in general, good things happen when you put the ball in play. You never know. If you are in a two-strike count and you are just trying to put the ball in play and not trying to sell out for something, then you can put yourself in a good position. You can get jam shots. You can foul off tough pitches, and you can get your pitch a couple of pitches later on, and it's about grinding out at-bats and trying to make pitchers throw pitches.

Q. Two quick questions: One, just a thought on E-Rod going for you tonight?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: E-rod has been spectacular for us all year. Obviously, last year he missed, so I think a little of it was shaking a little bit of the rust off. It's different especially from last season not getting to play in front of fans and stuff, and the shortened season, it's just a different workload, and you go through different -- there's different challenges you have to go through, but to see him back out here was awesome. The entire season and to see the way he has been throwing the ball has been pretty awesome.

He has great stuff. Left-handed starter. His velo is getting up there. Touching four and fives. He has a great arsenal of pitches, and we're always comfortable with E-Rod on the mound. We're comfortable with all of our guys on the mound, but we're excited to have E-Rod going tonight.

Q. After what you saw in the Yankee game and then the Tampa series and maybe even in Houston, what kind of atmosphere are you expecting tonight with the crowd here at Fenway?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Oh, I'm sure it's going to be insane. Even talking with some of the Astros guys, I was talking to Chas McCormick when -- I can't remember exactly when it was, but I just mentioned, like, dude, this place is loud. And he is, like, dude, I can't wait to go to Fenway. I told him, yeah, that Wild Card game was insane. Even when we played in the ALDS it was insane. That's a testament to our fans and keeping us in the game and getting us into the game, and them always being invested.

I think that when you get to play home, it's nice because, like Tom mentioned earlier, every pitch seems like it's a game-changer. It can be at one point or another. You get a hit, and you feel like you're walking it off in the second. I think that that's part of postseason baseball, but it's also part of the culture that is here in Boston and especially in Fenway, and we're just excited to be back home and playing in front of our fans.

Q. It's kind of a good a follow-up, I just would love to hear some of your experience from yesterday and how that came together and what it was like and the atmosphere at Gillette. You were in a group, and if they knew your song or did you have to tell them, or how did that all come together?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: It kind of happened organically, actually. That's one of my -- I'm a huge football fan, and I grew up watching Tom Brady, and that was one of my dreams. I'm a Tampa Bay resident, so for Tom to end up in Tampa was pretty special. But one of my dreams was always to watch Tom Brady play in Gillette Stadium. Earlier in the season when the Bucs came to Foxboro to play in Gillette Stadium, I really, really wanted to go. I think we had a game that night. So, obviously, we couldn't go, but that was just something that I always wanted to do.

And we had an off-day, and a couple of the guys and stuff, we got it set up. I can't remember who set it up, but we were able to go watch a game. Like I said, it was just a dream of mine to go to Gillette Stadium and to take in that atmosphere. That atmosphere is so similar -- it's louder; there's more people. But it's a beautiful stadium. It was a great opportunity to go watch a football game.

Like I said before, I'm a huge, huge football fan. You get to watch such a historic organization like the Patriots play live was awesome.

So it kind of happened organically. Kenny Chesney was up before us, and they had Jayson Tatum was there as well. We were just sitting there enjoying our afternoon on our off-day and relaxing, taking it in, and I was there, and it was me, Kevin sitting there. They started playing the song, and I can't help but dance, you know, when that song comes on. I love it. It's just one of those things that started as a joke, but I was singing it in the elevator coming up. It's one of those things that's stuck with us.

Yeah, you know, I think it was good for us to have a little bit of a day to kind of relax and to have a little bit of fun and get to watch the football game. Obviously, we weren't doing anything dumb. We have a game today. We were prepared for today. I know sometimes you get in situations where you're enjoying that atmosphere, and that's what it was.

Yeah, we had a great time, and I actually ended up leaving early, which kind of stunk because I heard it was a phenomenal ending. I left right at the end of the third quarter. Family is in town. We had a blast, and, yeah, it was fun to get to enjoy that.

Q. You didn't get a lot of plate appearances at the end of the regular season. You look comfortable right now.

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: Yeah.

Q. How did you get yourself back to a point where you're comfortable in the role that you are in the lineup?

CHRISTIAN ARROYO: I think it's about coming back to the roots, I guess, of what you were doing and trying to find that feeling in the box of just trusting all the work that you have put in over the course of the season. Obviously, at the end of the season Iggy (Iglesias) was playing phenomenal for us, and we needed to win to get into the postseason. I understood the situation, but I knew that if we made it and when we made it that Iggy wasn't going to be able to play with us, and that I had the conversation with A.C., and he told me, hey, you're going to be playing in the postseason. I just need you to be ready. I made a vow to him that I would be ready.

Again, you can look at the results all you want, but it's about having quality plate appearances. You hit the ball hard, put it in play, and you're going to get a hit or not get a hit. That's it. For me I've just tried to get on the fastball machine, get on the breaking ball machine, and just see some velos, stepping on bullpens just to keep my eyes going. The more at-bats you get, the more comfortable you get, and, again, it's a competitive environment that we're in. So it's just part of it, and it's just one of those things where you just kind of find your stride again and then you try to keep rolling from there.