NL DIVISION SERIES: PADRES VS BREWERS

October 4, 2026

Joey Ortiz

Cooper Pratt

American Family Field

Milwaukee Brewers

Pregame 2 Press Conference

Q. Your first playoff game last night. What was the atmosphere like? How different was it for you than what you experience in the regular season?

COOPER PRATT: It was pretty electric. When we came out, it was packed from the start. It wasn't like the typical regular season game where fans start to trickle in and by the second inning you look up and it was full. It was full before we even got out there. And they really brought it and it was fun and it was exciting.

Q. Joey, Murph says you're part of the Sal-led brigade that kind of hides your injuries a little bit. How are you feeling? How's the abdomen? How's the knee?

JOEY ORTIZ: I'm good. I feel good. Just ready to compete.

Q. Joey, you had a pretty good view down the third base line of that Ty France ball yesterday off the cable. What was your view of it? Did you think it was going foul? What was just kind of your view watching that play?

JOEY ORTIZ: Yeah, I thought it was going foul. I don't think it was going to stay fair at all. Then it hit the roof, and then it came back fair. I mean, he hit it so high, I didn't really think it had a shot to get out. I thought it was gonna be a foul, if anything.

Q. Cooper, going back to what you said before, was there a moment you kind of were able to look around and soak it in a little bit, or was it more just kind of in game mode once you got out onto the field?

COOPER PRATT: Yeah, when we did the intros and stuff and maybe when we ran out, looked around and it was cool. But after that, it just went back to, like, a normal -- not normal, but back to the game.

Q. You saw the strength of the Padres bullpen last night. It's well known, just how good these guys are at the back end of the bullpen. How does the approach change? What do you guys kind of have to do at the end of the games to really make these guys work and kind of get them out of the game as soon as possible or find success against that bullpen?

JOEY ORTIZ: Yeah, I mean, I think any team in the Big Leagues, their bullpen is going to be great. I think everyone throws 100 with movement now. It's about battling, competing, trying to swing at good pitches and taking things one pitch at a time.

And we see what happened yesterday. And William had a great at-bat off Morejon, who is one of the best relievers in the game. So, yeah, it's just taking it one pitch at a time.

Q. Cooper, is there any added challenge of flipping the page to today with the pretty quick turnaround -- late last night and then getting here kind of early today?

COOPER PRATT: I looked up last night after the game and it was, like, 12:00, which I'm not used to. I went home, packed, straight to bed. Woke up, feel good.

It's no different than the regular season. You play a night game, then a day game. But no, we don't really have control of when the games are, so you've just got to be ready to go.

Q. Cooper, did anybody give you a heads-up to the manager not liking the slap-five when you're going through the lines there at the start of the game?

COOPER PRATT: I think I saw something at the beginning of the year on social media when I was in Nashville. And then I just made sure I was kind of watching as I was going through the high-fives. And I was like, all right, I'm not going to be surprised by this.

Q. I was going to ask you about Murph, Cooper. It's been a while since that game in New York. How has your relationship with Murph changed maybe for the better even if anything good came of that after that happened against them?

COOPER PRATT: I probably deserved it. You never want to be benched. And there's no -- I think the media made it bigger than it was. I didn't think it was -- obviously it's not ideal, but I think it was made bigger than it should have been.

I knew that I messed up. There was no backlash. I knew I probably deserved it. It was nothing towards Murph. Murph, he knows what he's doing. He's won Manager of the Year twice.

No, I just try and do what they tell me and do my part, small roles, just be able to help the team in any way I can.

Q. Joey, you've seen Jackson the last couple of years in the postseason. How do you describe how he takes it to the next level and the confidence that you guys have when he comes up in those big spots?

JOEY ORTIZ: You see what he does in the regular season, so everyone knows what he's capable of. And then you get to the postseason, it seems like he flips a switch to be even better, which is pretty crazy because he's already a great ball player.

I think he just wants the moment. He wants the big moments. And when they come, it seems that he has a lot of success in it. He's a great ball player, and we need him to keep doing that.

Q. Now that you have the first game in hand, how do you view the importance of trying to get Game 2 so you can have a commanding lead going back to San Diego?

COOPER PRATT: You always want to win the first one, right? Hopefully we can win three. Everyone wants to win in as little as possible. But you want to come out of here, want to win two. We want to win all of them.

But I think it was big yesterday to win the first one and have that for us and come into today ready to play.

Q. Joey, you've had a few at-bats against Michael King throughout your career. What do you remember seeing from him, and is there anything you take into that matchup tonight?

JOEY ORTIZ: For King, I think he moves the ball around well. I think he misses the barrel a lot. And that's obviously what you try to do as a pitcher. And I think he knows how to pitch really well.

And I think it comes down to the same thing -- taking everything a pitch at a time, and trying to get something in the middle and hammer it.