Mark Kotsay praises Athletics' competitive edge in extra-innings win vs. Cubs
Athletics manager Mark Kotsay speaks with the media after his team's 5-4 extra-innings win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday at Wrigley Field.
Mark Kotsay praises Athletics' competitive edge in extra-innings win vs. Cubs originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
Video Transcript
Obviously a, a tough start for Jeffrey, but, for you guys to respond from the bullpen to the offense, just can you say kind of about the, the way that game played out for you guys at the end?
Yeah.
There, there's a lot to break down in that game.
obviously the bullpen did a, a tremendous job of holding a, a, a score, manageable for us to make a comeback.
And the offense for them to, to get some big hits tonight really, you know, obviously the home runs, you know, help.
but, the at-bats there in the 10th as well, you know, coming off the bench for Heim.
we hit the ball hard all night really, I thought.
even off of Ray in the starter we had at least seven balls that were hit, you know, above 95 and right at guys.
So, quality at-bats, quality pitching.
you know, Jeffrey tonight just, you know, he wasn't getting any chase on the changeup, whether they were recognizing it or it w- just was ball out of hand.
I think that was probably the, the story of, of Jeffrey's night, just not, not able to really command the baseball as well as he has.
and establishing the fastball in to kind of get guys sped up.
but you know, I mean, he grinded.
He grinded and, that's what the team's for is to pick each other up, and we saw that.
Colby Thomas there coming off the bench.
he's seemed to perform that role pretty well.
how big was that just momentum-wise, that, that- Huge.
It was a huge at-bat.
You know, obviously Colby's on this roster.
y- you know, we know the damage he can do against lefties.
it, it's been few and far in between in opportunities.
it's never easy when you don't get consistent at-bats.
you know, but yesterday, the at-bat I thought off Milner was good.
And, to get a match-up tonight for him, back-to-back nights with that bat, his timing was better tonight obviously.
I mean, that ball was crushed.
So, huge at-bat for us, big momentum, you know, in the game and, able to get us, you know, back into it really.
You talked yesterday about June hopefully being a, a better month.
can you just talk about the start these last two games getting you in the right direction?
Yeah, no, obviously, start to June's been good.
you know, we've played good baseball these last two games.
You know, the one play that I didn't get to talk about tonight was the Lika play that, the double play that he turned in the ninth.
Medina walking the leadoff guy, getting a 3-2 count on Suzuki.
that's a backhand ball, in the hole, and to get two outs on that play is, is extremely, well done.
You know, even the, the feed was on the money on a backhand that was halfway down on his knees to make that throw to Jeff, and Jeff getting rid of it quick.
Just that was a huge momentum swing in the ninth inning that, and it gave Medina a lot of confidence, I think and, and made the, the inning obviously a lot, more efficient for him.
And obviously Nick with the, with the RBI, the game-winning single in essence.
Yeah.
I mean, you know, for Nick it's, it's tough situation there.
You got, you know, Nick up.
you know, you never wanna put more base runners on in, in, in extra innings.
That's, that's a challenge, right?
We talk about how challenging it is to, to just start the inning with a runner on second.
you know, my, my r- memories of, of Justin, for Sterner coming in and pitching the 10th inning has been a positive.
He seems to excel in that, in that role.
He did t- last year really well, and to get a big strike out of Crow was huge.
you mentioned some of the bullpen guys right there.
Six or seven pitchers you used today.
Sterner closing it out on the back end.
Just talk about the impact he's had and, you know, relishing in that role.
Well, I, I mean, you know, this I think might be his first career save.
Yeah.
So, he's, he's a guy that's very dependable.
he's had a lot of success.
He's throwing the ball well.
and again, like I said, you wouldn't take, wanna, don't wanna take credit from every guy that, that went out there and, and, and maintained a, a deficit for us to overcome.
the two guys not used in the bullpen over Mason Barnett and Kaden Morris, who we seem to repeat their names every single day.
is, has a decision been made?
Nope.
Don't need to.
Thanks guys
