AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: ASTROS VS RED SOX

October 18, 2021

Eduardo Rodriguez

Christian Vazquez

Fenway Park

Boston Red Sox

Postgame 3 Press Conference

Red Sox 12, Astros 3

Q. Eduardo, can you talk about what you had today?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I will say like I said in my last start, I had my fastball command working today, and I feel like every time I have my fastball command working, the rest of the pitches I can work with. I feel like as a starting pitcher, you always have to have your fastball command, and that's what I had today.

Q. Christian, what did you see from Eduardo, especially early, and did you kind of get the feeling that he was in for a night like this?

CHRISTIAN VAZQUEZ: Yeah. Like he said, his fastball command was there, and after that we can do whatever we want with those pitches, the change-up, the cutter in to righties, the slider away to lefties. It was everything working tonight, so it was a fun game.

Q. Eduardo, just what was your conversation like with Alex when you came off the mound there and obviously you were pointing at your wrist, and he didn't want you to do that? What was that about and what was it like from your end?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: He just told me don't do that. Like I said earlier, it was something that was part of the moment. But he just told me, like, I mean, we don't do that here. Stay humble. Just go out there and play hard every time.

Like I say, I feel bad for myself because I just do that, you know what I mean, and even I will apologize to Correa if I see him in person because that's not something I normally do, and it was just part of the game. That's it.

Q. Eduardo, maybe and for you too Christian, you seemed to be throwing really hard in that first inning. How good did you feel tonight, and how much did the crowd get your adrenaline going early on?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I will say you just said it right there. I will say the crowd and the stadium and everything, that's what got me, I will say that much power on my shoulder just to throw the ball like I was today because you see by the end of the game I was throwing the ball right where I want it, even if it was 92, 96 like it was today. Everything is about the command. You can throw 99 or 100 right in the middle of the plate, and it's going to get hit hard. For me it's just about the command even if I throw 90 or whatever I was throwing in the game.

Q. Christian, did you notice that right away too?

CHRISTIAN VAZQUEZ: Yeah, it was electric fastball tonight. I think it's adrenaline. The way that this game is so important for us. Get ahead 2-1 in the series. It's everything together. You know, you get locked in, and you do it for your team, for your teammates, and give everything you got, so yeah.

Q. Christian, just from the perspective of the lineup, how much has it helped to have Kyle Schwarber just on the team in general and also at the top of the lineup, setting the tone for the rest of you?

CHRISTIAN VAZQUEZ: Yeah, it's a complete hitter. He gets walks. He grinds at-bats. He gets a lot of pitches in at-bat, and I think that helps us to see more, and get more information on the starter or the reliever. And he can go deep. A perfect pickup for us. I think he is going to help us a lot this postseason.

Q. Eduardo, in that second inning, I mean, you got six runs back there for you, but you were waiting for I think it was 36 minutes. Can you just talk about how you were able to sit through that, if you did anything in particular, and how you came out and kind of kept the pace?

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I feel like I'm glad I had the opportunity to play with a lot of veteran guys, and they show me what to do. You got to keep your body moving, keep moving around, go in the cage, throw some balls. That's the way they showed me to do it. Sale, Price, Porcello, and even Nate. Those guys always teach me how to do the right things, and that's one of the things they always told me. Even when the other team had long innings like that, move around, go in the cage, throw the balls. That's the way I'm doing it now. In the past I had some games that was long inning out there, and I was sitting the whole time, and I go out there and I don't feel myself. So I learned because of them.

Q. For either of you, you were both here in '18, played the Astros, lost Game 1, and then ripped off four in a row and took care of them. Is this starting to feel like that to you? You halfway there. Do you see some similarities, even though they had -- you had home field last time, and they have it this time. Does this maybe feel a little bit like that series?

CHRISTIAN VAZQUEZ: I think we play one game every day. We don't get ahead, but, like I said, we go there and give everything we got to win every -- try to win every game we play. So we're playing good ball. The first game almost had them, but it's part of the game. Turn the page and get the second game and third game and, you know, we're now in good place.

Q. Hey, Eduardo. Just the fact that you got through the first three innings the way you did, but also, the last two, how important were those to sort of rounding out your performance, especially after having to labor through the fourth inning? Also, just the importance of getting through those six innings to save the staff and some of the staff for tomorrow.

EDUARDO RODRIGUEZ: I mean, I feel like as a starter, you got to -- no matter what game it is, you got to go out there and do your best to go six or seven innings. That's why you're called starting pitcher. Not just go out there for one or two innings all the time.

For me it was really important to go throw six innings today because I know the lineup we have, and they can score a lot of runs, and the power we have in the lineup. I just feel like I go out there and do the best to keep the other team from scoring too many runs because I know we can do the job.