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The Astros took an early lead over the A’s in the American League Divisional Series with a 10-5 win Monday afternoon at Dodger Stadium.
After a flurry of home runs from both clubs early in the game, a two-out sixth-inning rally after a Marcus Semien error gave Houston a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
Here’s what both teams are saying about Game 1:
Athletics manager Bob Melvin
On Marcus’ error: “That’s what team’s all about, and we gotta try to pick it up. Two out, nobody on and the next thing you know they’ve got four runs so you’ve got to give them some credit too. They hit some pretty good pitches to get to that point. Even Brantley off of Diekman, so they were pretty relentless after an opening that inning and they took advantage of it.”
On Wendelken: “Just gave up some hits. Probably some sliders in the middle of the plate. I think the one he threw to Springer was pretty good — he just went out there and hooked it down the line. And then the one to Altuve, even though it’s off the bat a little bit, it’s probably the worst pitch of the inning he made.”
On Bassitt: “Just looked like some balls up. Usually he’s able to pitch up and down, with his cutter and sinker side-to-side. Looked like every ball that was up was more in the middle of the plate, which he typically doesn’t do. Just a rough outing. He’s had a string of really good outings but they made him work and scored some runs. We still had a chance, you know, Petit came in and cleaned it up. But the sixth inning ended up being our toughest inning.”
On the offense struggling against the Astros bullpen: “They pitched pretty well. They have some guys with some velo too and matched up a little bit. We just didn’t have the at-bats we typically do toward the end of the game, we did ‘em towards the beginning, which we’ve had some trouble with. So you feel like no matter where you are, after we go into the late innings, we have a chance to come back especially after having a pretty good offensive output early on. Give (the Astros) credit, they played the later innings better than we did.”
On breakdowns with runners in scoring position: “At the time you’re putting together good at-bats and you feel good about where we are. Like I said, we have trouble early in games with scoring runs and we were not — we were putting together some good at-bats. Obviously with runners in scoring position, wasn’t our best today. But usually with our team and how we end up finishing games both offensively and in the bullpen, we feel like we have a chance. Just didn’t do it.”
On the home runs: “You hit it halfway good and, you know, it’s going to go out … typically it does play a little smaller in the daytime here, but last time we played here at night, it played small too.”
On coming back from Game 1 loss: “I mean, it’s a longer series. Everybody wants to win Game 1 but, you know, we faced two elimination games and responded nicely. I expect the same tomorrow.”
Athletics pitcher Chris Bassitt
On playing a day game: “It didn’t affect me. I knew it was going to be a higher-scoring game … there’s really no pop flies here, pop flies are home runs.”
On the A’s mentality: “Play the game, play our game, don’t really worry about the extra crap.”
On his pitching: “Everything was up. The ball wasn’t moving the way i’m used to it moving. There wasn’t depth to any pitch, and again, I think you saw that across the board.”
On Semien’s error: “Errors happen. The error happened with two outs. We can’t let that snowball into four runs, as a pitcher.”
On Khris Davis: “The world’s just catching on but he really is back to his normal form.”
On the possibility of pitching Game 5 on short rest: “I know how my body is — my body bounces back really fast. So I’ll be available at the end of this series, I just don’t know when.”
Athletics catcher Sean Murphy
On Bassitt’s outing: “Obviously not the best and not the results he wanted. He gave up some soft hits and some things didn’t go his way. He’ll bounce back, no doubt about it.”
On J.B. Wendelken’s pitching after Semien error: “Nothing changed. We went out there and we still tried to execute out pitches, and we didn’t. A lot of soft contact in there. Still had opportunities to get out of the inning and we didn’t, so it doesn’t fall on any one person.”
Athletics first baseman Matt Olson
On last week’s comeback as a boost to mentality: “It’s good to have done it, knowing that we even have a couple more games in this series is good too. It happened, we gotta look at it as we’ve got to win three out of a four game series. We’ve done that plenty of times throughout the seasons and just gotta come back tomorrow and win that game.”
On Semien’s error: “Tough play. Reddick is a good runner and hit it off the end of the bat and it was rolling pretty slow and we’re in the shift so Marcus had to cut across over towards second base. It happens. Things that happened after it, it just happens like that sometimes in baseball. Just put it in the rearview and come back tomorrow, get a win.”
On the ball carrying: “There were definitely a few balls today that don’t go out of the Coliseum, but it’s part of it. We’re here.”
On his own home run: “It was good to see that ball get out and feel good on some swings today.”
On Khris Davis’ home run: “KD can do things not everybody can do. You saw that ball today that went out to right field. He has more right-field juice than any righty I’ve seen.”
To let it fly in L.A.#RepTheTown pic.twitter.com/GePb6tYu9J
— Oakland A's (@Athletics) October 5, 2020
On Yusmeiro Petit getting out of a jam: “First and second and nobody out, turning into the guys not even advancing. That’s what Yus does.”
Astros manager Dusty Baker
On two-out home runs: “You just take (home runs with two outs) when you can get them. The ball was carrying. I’ve never seen the ball carry like that.”
On the seemingly thin air: “I do not know (why the ball carried the way it did). It didn’t appear to be as much moisture in the air as there usually is. And the ball is hot too. And the weather’s hot. Usually it’s not this hot in October here, usually it’s 20 to 15 degrees cooler, and all of that, I think, contributes to the ball carrying further.”
On George Springer’s big game (4-for-5): “George is closing in on 200 ABs and that’s when guys start swinging it. … He’s finding some holes and he’s on a streak. When a guy gets on a streak, he feels like he’s going to get a hit every time up. We’re certainly enjoying this hot streak and George is only going to get hotter.”
Astros pitcher Lance McCullers Jr.
On the ball carrying: “It wasn’t ideal pitching conditions, but we had the same advantage, so to speak, and the guys did a great job battling and putting up good at-bats.”
On Chris Bassitt: “Don’t get it twisted — (Chris) Bassitt’s a really good pitcher. He’s pitched well against us.”
2-out nightmare. #ForTheH pic.twitter.com/7Wqbmn7lOR
— Houston Astros (@astros) October 5, 2020
On winning Game 1 in a five-game series: “It’s huge. Beyond that, I think seeing the guys the way they had at-bats today was crazy impressive. When you see our guys and they start to feel dangerous and look dangerous in that box as they did today is when you have a lot of confidence. It’s huge to get a big Game 1 victory over a quality team.”
On the Astros’ status as villains: “The way people want to perceive us is fine, but we have to go out there and win baseball games.”
On teammate Carlos Correa: “Carlos Correa is not a villain. He’s a humanitarian.”
Astros center fielder George Springer
On his big game: “I’m just trying to get to first base, to be honest, and I know who is up behind me and I know what they can do.”
Astros shortstop Carlos Correa
On holding his hand to his ear after a home run: “It’s just a way to celebrate the homer. When I did it against the Yankees on the walk-off homer the fans went crazy and a lot of people said I should make it my thing. With no fans in the stands, I decided to make it my own thing.”
