Padres manager Mike Shildt on playoff elimination, pitching decisions & what happened to the offense

Padres manager Mike Shildt on playoff elimination, pitching decisions & what happened to the offense

Mike, three really close ball games. Just what did you think of the series overall and how you guys performed tonight? Um yeah, I mean it was a good series, hard fought. Um tight, you know, a lot of big moments. Um you know, basically didn’t get it done, you know, as a wrap-up point. Um there’s a lot of hurt guys in that clubhouse and but we waited it out on the field and there’s no regrets on anybody’s part. Just um disappointed. Kyle, um just from your vantage point on the um the strike call on Xander in the ninth. Just what what did you see from your vantage point on in that situation? um looked down to me, you know, but I’m don’t see great and I’m kind of far away. But most importantly, you know, Bogey felt like he was down. He’s not a he’s not a guy that, you know, is looking not any of our guys really, but Bogey also in particular is not a guy that’s, you know, overly dramatic about close pitches and, you know, it’s a big pitch. It’s a big swing pitch. you know, in terms of tying run and then what unfolded after that was um could have been very impactful, but um you know, we had other opportunities too. Back right Mike, your your bullpen has been so good all year. Uh talk about the decision to go with Suarez when you did and then um your thoughts on King and his performance. Uh yeah, I mean, you know, listen, once we’re in the bullpen in the second inning um and I thought the bullpin was fantastic. I mean, end of the day, we held him to a run. You know, this Suarez decision was actually a pretty easy one. Um, Mory Hon and Miller had eaten up a bulk of innings. You know, especially yesterday, so we knew the spot for them. Suarez, you know, we didn’t pitch in the first game. He’d had some days off prior to that. One and a third yesterday. Um, fresh’s best guy. You know, you’re down two nothing six. You’re in a closing situation. Um, and we’d already used a strata for two innings, you know, to get out of and limit the damage in the second. Um, so at that point it was it was pretty clear-cut and we knew we could go to Mory Hone and um and Miller if we had have been able to to tie or get ahead. From your vantage point, what was the issue with you starting today and and uh you know, what can you say about everything he’s done since he came back in early July? Yeah, I mean it’s it’s um been a little bit of an uphill battle for you this year starting in you know even the offseason into spring training and um was compromised but you know I give him a ton of credit and the medical staff medical staff did a hell of a job this whole year with our group Mark Rogo and his group deserve a lot of credit man um but specific to to Darish you know he was able to work his way and get back and then you know took him a while to to get going again but you know it’s a guy with a lot of experience in the league And you know, today I thought that was pretty crisp in the first. You know, Freddy makes a nice throw to help us get out of the early inning, but um you know, we got a got a base hit and then you know, Suzuki, you know, ball down the line and you know, the hit by pitch by Carson was a little bit of a red flag that maybe not as sharp and so we got a stride up. Armstrong, you know, gets one in there and that was it. Kyle, uh, 13 hits for the Cubs, but kind of like you’ve mentioned, you guys limited the damage as best you could throughout the game. Just talk about the job of the bullpen and just, you know, not letting it snowball and just keeping you guys in it right until the very end. Yeah, we we got into a scramble early on. We knew it was a possibility. Mentioned Estrada, you know, he comes in and nobody out, bases loaded, and we just there with one. Louis makes a big double play ball. You know, part of the bullpen that I’ll continue to talk about that’s important is the defense. You know, Freddy threw a couple guys out, blocked his tail off, kept double plays in order. Louis the big double play. Um, you know, and but after Mory Hung get or um Strider rather, gets his two. Um, you know, we did a nice job by Wii get out of it. Um, and then you know, Suarez, like we talked about, took down the sixth and ran some traffic in the seventh and man, extra pay for Mory Hoen, right? I mean, holy, holy, this guy’s three days in a row, two plus yesterday throwing 99. Um, and was able to leave him out there and take down the take down the seventh. And Morgan’s been a guy that, you know, I was I would have preferred to have Miller in there. You know, nothing against David, but um with the lead, but it’s good to see David get in there and trust him and he’s had a nice year and got a bright future for us as well. But um bullpen was, you know, we scratched and called and kept it right there. And you know, talking about defense, I don’t think they give an MVP for this round. I’d give it to Swanson. I mean, this, you know, Danby played his tail off, man. He almost single-handedly beat us with his glove. You know, we talk about in the modern game about the pitching and we talk about the the offense and who we’re hitting for and all the things that are, you know, appropriate to talk about in our game, but the one thing that we don’t talk about as much anymore is your defense. And this time of year, defense, and we play great defense, but Dan Swanson absolutely beat us with this glove this series. Go to the back, right, Mike? I know you guys talk about finding solutions. How hard was it to find a solution when Lauriano goes down that late in the season and how much did that affect the buttons you were able to push or not push here in the playoffs? Yeah, I mean, you know, listen, um the I’m glad you brought that up because that’s really a trademark of this team and um like I said, we’re super disappointed. Uh, but we just got through talking amongst the team and I’m going to segue off into something else and bring the point full circle for you. But because it is about the winners finding solutions and you know we um we’ve had like most teams, every team in this league has their circumstances. It’s how you deal with them. And there’s not a complainer in the whole group, staff, player, nobody. Um, and so, you know, specific to Oriana, when he goes down or Jason Adam goes down, you know, you you figure it out. You figure it out the best you can. And, you know, we’ve had guys, you know, just hugged on Michael King and, you know, Michael got 70 innings, you know, but I was out there with heart of a champion today and took down an inning for us. Um, you know, you talk also about the solution piece. It’s a good opportunity to to give AJ Prowler a lot of credit. You know, we did our part. Stayed in the fight. He does his part. You know, Son of Pavetta, you know, the moves, sheets, um at Glacius, you know, under the radar somewhat moves um with the resources he has. You know, club scratches and claws, fights your tail off to stay relevant at a trade deadline and he goes and pulls the trigger and gets his help. And you know, unfortunately, Raone wasn’t able to to stay with us through the this ride because, you know, him in the seven hole could have made a big difference, but he wasn’t there. You know, we took our spot today with a glacius and he gave us a great bat and, you know, gosh darn it, her makes a play and talk about the defense and comes back around, Johnson gets on and gets the go ahead run to the plate in the ninth. So, long answer to your question, but it’s ultimately about nobody’s going to feel sorry for you in this game. And we got a bunch of guys in that clubhouse that are hurting, but there’s no regrets in that clubhouse for anybody. Our heads are high and we know from day one we we laid it out there every day. All right, Mike. Thanks. We appreciate your time this week. Thanks. Good luck to the cops.

Padres manager Mike Shildt on a frustrating loss to the Cubs in game 3 of the wild card playoffs.