AL CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES: RANGERS VS ASTROS

October 19, 2023

Dusty Baker

Globe Life Field

Houston Astros

Postgame 4 Press Conference

Q. I know he went through one pitch tonight. How big was Stanek getting out of the jam?

DUSTY BAKER: That was huge, especially when you've got guys that can hit the ball out of the ballpark. Anytime you get two outs on one pitch, and especially the second and third out of that inning, and that kind of squashed their -- they were starting to get some momentum. The crowd was into it. That was a huge pitch.

Q. Could you comment on that Jose Abreu double play, tagging Marcus Semien and the absolutely smoked ball by Corey Seager?

DUSTY BAKER: Yeah, that ball was smoked by Seager. I mean Seager, he continues to hit the ball hard. But we had a little luck going for us. And I couldn't tell from our angle if he had touched him or not. Looked like he might have touched him on his batting glove, which is right up our alley.

That was another huge play. And I told Jose, I know in Cuba they don't play football, but you've got to tackle and make sure he doesn't get to the bag.

Q. How would you describe the lift that Hunter Brown gave you when he came in, stabilizing things with those three shutout innings?

DUSTY BAKER: He pitched like a veteran. He did the same thing last year. We had him in relief and I liked that he was aggressive. He threw 33 strikes and 24 balls and didn't walk anybody. Had a couple of atom balls that were hit hard, but anytime you can make them swing the bat you have a chance of getting them out.

And walks have sort of plagued him as a starter. But as reliever, he comes out throwing strikes, throwing fastballs, throwing quality pitches. And that was huge because what that did, it saved my bullpen, which is -- I didn't know which direction we were going to go, but I was hoping we didn't have to use Neris and Abreu and tonight and Pressly. So that makes him stronger for tomorrow.

Q. What do you attribute to your guys doing so well in this ballpark?

DUSTY BAKER: I don't know, man. They keep asking me that same question, I've got the same answer. I don't know. I know our guys see the ball well here, and the ball carries here. I know it carries here, the dimensions are probably larger here than in our ballpark. And some ballparks you like hitting in and some ballparks you don't.