Tony Vitello, Giants players react to series-opening win over rival Dodgers

Manager Tony Vitello and Giants players speak to reporters after San Francisco's 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday night at Oracle Park.

Tony Vitello, Giants players react to series-opening win over rival Dodgers originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

View More

Video Transcript

A, a lot of places you could start with a game like tonight, but the bullpen, five guys combined for score, for scoreless innings, I think it's only three hits.

Just what can you say about what that unit did as a whole tonight?

Yeah, I mean, I mean, tonight is the one to focus on because obviously we just played the game, but I, I think in general, the unit's done great for us, and tonight is a little bit of the epitome of it because I'm a big believer there's, there's kind of a s- you know, almost a dance that goes on during the game and, and everything's connected, and, those starting pitchers, m- my point being, have helped the relievers.

The relievers have helped the starting pitchers and ultimately the team too.

But, for Rupert to grind through that fifth inning, it's pretty hard to quantify.

You can use all the fancy analytics you want upstairs.

It's hard to quantify what that does.

And again, I say it epitomizes the year because I, I feel like, you know, those guys have been a group we can be confident in and lean on all year long.

But part of it is the, the trailers attached to the starters being so good about, at the very least, even on the couple occasions where we've got hit around or all of a sudden it just isn't ideal for whatever reason there with Rupert, to gr-grind through and get those guys the ball in a good position and hand the baton off.

So, all in all, it makes up That's, I guess that's why you call it a pitching staff.

You need a bunch of different stuff going on.

but I think Jesse's done a good job of making sure those guys know how to get ready.

Some of those guys are in situations for the first time ever.

he's, he's built a sense of camaraderie down there.

and then ultimately, I just You know, going into this thing, it's, it's probably one more than the average pitching coach group o-on a team.

more isn't always more, but I feel like with this group, the work ethic is more, that's more important than the number of bodies and, and that's meaning more for the pitchers.

And for Walker in particular, given how his last outing went, how big of an outing was that for him, especially knowing who was kinda looming there?

Yeah, it was great.

Yeah, y-you kinda know what's going on.

But, but really, wh-when you're asked to pitch in any of those seventh, eighth, ninth inning, trouble's looming around the corner no matter who's coming up.

And, and don't get me wrong, you know, obviously it's a different situation here, but, you know, wanna know what you You wanna do what you can do to, to hold them down.

And, tonight was his night to pitch in the ninth.

It might be somebody different, the, the next occasion, but that again speaks to the group that you started with talking about.

And yeah, it was, it was good for Walk, but I just I'm not up with you guys wherever you sit during the game, and I'm not at home, but from my van-vantage point in the dugout on the road, you know, for him to do what he did overall in those two innings, to me was great.

was it ideal?

Hell no.

Ideal is strike Brady House out and let's go home.

but the, you know, the kid was able to compete and put the bat on the ball, and so the rest was, was a very competitive e-effort by Walk, but today was a little cleaner.

It's, you know, kinda nature of being down there.

There's gonna be ups and downs, and you gotta have some toughness to you.

And I feel like because he's been thrown into so many situations here over the last year and a half, that toughness has, has built up in him.

Is Jung-hoo okay?

Looked like he might've gotten a little bit- Yeah, I mean- on that slide a little bit of, "Hey, i-if he's gonna be available tomorrow, just to peel back the curtain a little bit, then let's get working on things now."

And, I really feel like Gerard, is interesting.

He was kinda bouncing around like a madman during BP out there.

But on the average day, he's out there working his butt off in right field.

He's done well for us, so we didn't feel like we were losing a whole lot there.

It's good to get him in the game, good to get Jung-hoo off his feet and hopefully speed up the process.

but yeah, a c-couple tough slides recently, just playing hard and, he, he I guarantee he wants to play no matter how he feels, but it, it probably just kinda aggravated that patch of, of rough skin from, from sliding and, and, you know, in the way that he has at those two plays at the plate.

Tony, you've played the matchups a lot in the late innings.

You've said all along you wanna play the matchups a little bit.

You went through your three lefties there knowing that you might end up facing those guys a-again.

What was the thinking there to use those guys early?

I don't know.

Now that you say it, it would've been nice to have a lefty there, y-you know, with those guys coming around the bend.

But just, just trying to win and having, you know, conversations with those guys in the corner.

And I, I think as the year's going on, those conversations haven't stopped.

I mean, Wash is always watching and observing the game and, y-you guys know the, the cast of characters that are in the dugout and all the knowledge.

But I think we're The way we're getting to where we need to be to, "Is this the guy we're gonna do, or is Gerard going in the outfield?"

is a little cleaner now.

It's a little bit more of a comfortable feel.

Doesn't mean we're always gonna, quote-unquote, "make the right decision."

but it was just trying to win the game.

Again, I know, that's And these guys all wanna be out there, so any time you do make a move, especially with the position guys, they wanna stand up for themselves, which I like.

a little bit of pride and a little bit of moxie of like, "Hey, I'm, I'm so-and-so.

I should be in the game at all times."

I like that, and I like the fact that we can communicate and walk through stuff.

But we've never done a move where it's like, "Man, I don't think this guy is very good."

you know, trust all these guys.

Hell, study the roster.

I wouldn't be here if I didn't trust them.

You know, I know we added some, some late guys, but, in the midst of the game, you, you spur the moment.

You're just trying to win, and sometimes it's match up and sometimes it's, it's not.

And sometimes not everyone's available that you guys think are available.

Or not necessarily you guys, but people on air.

you get three runs in the first inning, four hits off of Yamamoto, who's obviously been throwing very well.

What, what did you see from those at-bats?

Did you see something a little different maybe, than you've seen over the last few weeks?

They No, I, I mean, they, their energy has been building.

and eventually you find out who the best version of your team is, and you wanna repeat it as often, kinda like you wanna find your best swing and repeat it as often.

And I just feel like that road trip revealed a lot about our team.

Um-The injuries sucked.

There's no other way to say that.

Three guys, you know, kinda come off the roster during the road trip.

We were oh so close to it being a winning roa- road trip on the record, you know, four and five versus five and four, but it was a winning road trip.

you know, there's conversations in the locker room about who we are and it revealed some things.

And again, I You wanna beat a divisional opponent.

I just wanted to see that carryover effect, and I- I think that's what was going on in that first inning.

We had a little bit of a plan.

Hunter had a good meeting, but it wasn't anything crazy.

it wasn't anything, you know, brand new that people have tried to do against Yamamoto.

I just feel like they had a, a good vibe going.

And, you know, we weren't If you really wanna break it down, we weren't able to do anything explosive.

I mean, there was never that hit in that inning that could've made it five or six to nothing.

It was good base running, contact, taking a walk, a hard, you know, Willie, the, I think they reversed that.

It was a base hit, but it wa- it was an infield hit.

so I, I think the good vibes led to good things happening for us.

It wasn't anything drastic with a great swing or a great strategy.

I guess just taking off that note, what, what's, what's the overall feeling of beating this team first time you saw them, you know, in this rivalry?

Yeah.

I always kinda lean on spring training as, as my first.

Although, you know, now that I reflect, that was dumb of me to say, because I was just saying earlier how different spring training was, th- than the season.

So I don't know.

I, I think we're just hunting for wins in general, and maybe that's me speaking selfishly.

you know, the gentleman asked me the other day about learning to lose.

no matter how good you are, if you're a, a champion of, of the entire world in this thing, there's a lot of ups and downs.

And so for me, you know, I guess I gotta get used to that, but, you don't have to like it.

And, we've got as high expectations as anybody out there, you know, whether it be fans or, or media.

But it is early.

We are finding ourselves.

There's different ways to get wins than just get a win in the win column.

but for confidence and for just general sake, you do need to stack wins.

And so honestly, just trying to hunt as many of those as possible.

And just your thoughts of that send of Jung who, I mean, it was a wet ground, but maybe also a wet ball, pretty aggressive.

Yeah, it was, it was definitely ultra-aggressive.

You got a, a two out, I, I mean, I don't think you really have time to calculate all this, at least I didn't when I was doing that s- in that spot.

But you got a two-out hit against one of the best pitchers on the planet.

How many of those are you gonna get?

now Drew did take a few really good swings.

and then the ball's wet, and then I'd like to see the replay.

I haven't seen it, but the, the relay throw-in is lobbed, and there's kinda extra air under that.

And so you could see it being kind of a, a play where the, the defense, who's rarely sloppy, comes off looking sloppy if, if it worked out in our favor.

Freeland kinda looked, kinda regathered himself and made an accurate throw, so it ends up in their favor.

but that's, you know, kinda the way I saw it.

Before the game, you were talking about wanting to kinda continue the momentum that you built on that road trip.

Yeah.

What does a win like this do?

I mean, we talk about the rivalry.

We know they've won back-to-back championships, and it's only the first game of the series, but what does a win like this do just as far as continuing to build the momentum that you did on the road?

I, I, I think it, you know, I don't wanna say solidifies it, but it, it kinda gives you a boost if you already were thinking good about those things.

but also, it gives you permission to be confident.

And, you know, if we're gonna get into Kobe Bryant or Michael Jordan or the, or the very, very bi- Walter Payton, for me when I was younger, those guys don't need the, the win column or statistics or permission to be confident.

It's an undying thing, and that's ideal.

but maybe even for those guys, you're, you're still human.

You need the feedback to know that y- you're, you're doing the right thing and to feel good about it.

Otherwise, you start to doubt it.

again, i- if you got a bunch of warriors, and I think we have the potential for that, or, or you got the best examples on the planet, they don't waver at all, and they don't necessarily need that carrot.

But it, it certainly helps even the well above average players to get a little bit of that positive feedback to feel good about it and to recognize, yeah, it is going well, instead of doubts or extra questions coming into play.

And again, I think a lot of, The start was the start.

It's over.

We're in the middle of this thing.

You're, you're, you're in the trenches, but when you're in that first cluster of 10 games and kinda topsy-turvy stuff for us, that's when it really kind of affects you, and you're like, "Man, I need some sort of positive feedback."

'Cause right now, the cloud is bigger of, the biggest cloud is the one of questioning and, and, and kinda wondering what we need to do different.

So lot of rambling.

There's gotta be some kinda answer in there somewhere.

Obviously a little different now facing them, you know, in the regular season compared to- Yeah spring training.

Just what were your overall impressions of the environment at Oracle tonight?

No, that was, that was different.

being in Scottsdale was a lot of fun.

I felt like our crowds were as big and as active as any down there.

but this was different, and Willie was, you know I think he was kinda talking smack to me more than anything about the environment.

He's like, "Wait till you see this," and, you know, kinda maybe teasing, but also amped up about it's, it's gonna be a different vibe, and it kinda was from the get-go.

you know, I'm, I'm used to it now.

these Major League games, I'm probably this guy, too.

Everyone kinda filters in to their seat, a little bit tardy or fashionably late.

And then you look up, by the time we're hitting in the bottom of the first, and it's a playoff-type atmosphere.

And, you know, it'd be great to drown out the opposing fans no matter whether they're Yankees, Dodgers, Cubs, whoever.

But it also kinda makes it fun when there's a little splattering of the, the opponent's fans in the stadium, 'cause you get some of that back and forth, and it, it does have a postseason, you know, vibe to it.The first three innings what happened in that fourth inning?

yeah, just feel like I was locating a lot.

mixing all the pitches and, and, just hitting the spots when I needed to.

And then obviously that fourth inning, that kind of fell apart.

not really sure what happened, but I kind of just felt like I was speeding up a little bit.

but was able to get a double play out of that and get out of the inning, but definitely not happy about that.

made the bullpen throw a little bit more than they should have.

wish I could've gone six or seven, but, it worked out and we got the win, so.

Anything happen between the, those innings that let you come out and, and get through that?

kind of just want me to slow it down a little bit, and just, just stay through the mound.

I, I, I know exactly when it clicked, clicked back to where I was in the first two innings.

So, it was good to feel that and good to get back out there and, finish the fifth.

What can you say about what the bullpen did as a whole?

Five guys in line there with four scoreless.

Yes.

incredible.

they've been incredible all year.

and, and Wal coming in and shutting it down like that at the end, it's just awesome to see and gives the starters confidence and, and everybody else confidence, so.

What does a win like this do for you guys?

I, I, I know it's just one game and it's the first of the series, but you kind of continue the momentum you built on the road trip against a really good team.

Yeah.

obviously, like you said, it gives us momentum to keep going and, just to, just go out there and compete and give the guys the best chance to win.

I think we're, we're playing some good baseball right now, so, just gotta keep it going.

How did it feel to get the early run support like you did in that first inning?

Yeah.

really good.

it's always nice as a starting pitcher to, to have, early run support like that and just gives you the peace of mind to go out there and just, really just attack the hitters and, get quick outs, so.

I think the 106 pitches were a career high for you.

Just how are you feeling in the fifth and what did it mean to be able to end on a strong note?

Yeah.

shit, I didn't even know I threw 106 pitches, but- yeah, it felt good.

like I said, I wish I could've gone a little longer.

but I'll take five any day, when it, when it's like that.

So, yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah, for sure.

what, you faced, you faced Shohei Ohtani and you know he has some streak is going on.

What, what goes through your mind when you're facing the best hitter in the, in this league?

Yeah.

just attack him.

throw him everything I got and keep him off his toes.

So, feel like I did a pretty good job of that tonight.

And, yeah.

And maybe you want to get back the fourth inning, the four walks and what happened to you?

What'd you say?

The fourth inning, you, you allowed four walks- Yeah and you want to get back.

The inning, what happened at that inning?

kind of felt like I was just speeding myself up.

not really just trying to hit, hit spots rather than trying to just compete.

So, it was good to get back to it in the fifth.

And you've struggled across a couple of, or strong outing to start the season.

Do you feel like you're playing at your best right now?

yeah, I do.

I feel like my, all my stuff's in a really good spot right now.

and I feel like I'm competing really well.

So, yeah, I would say I'm, I'm pretty happy with where everything's at.

It looked like your left arm got caught behind you a little bit on that slide.

Did you hurt your shoulder at all?

Yeah.

shoulder feels good, ankle feels good.

The knee feels good.

It's, nothing over there.

But, I banged up my, quad in, Washington and then, just banged it up again today, so no worries on that.

What does a win like today do for the team?

you know, I know it's just one game, but against your rival, two-time defending champions, what, what can a win like this do to sort of build off the road trip you had?

Yeah, coming back from the long road trip and, getting that first win at home just, gives that good team spirit and, hope to keep on going with it.

You've gotten to face Yamamoto a few times in, in the national competition.

What was the team's approach against him, to getting off to a fast start today?

Yeah.

It's always different when you're, you've seen these pitchers in the international competition and also seen them through the regular season.

But, I think, the hitters mainly went really well today on how we approach, Yamamoto today and then, it just, came out from that result.

That play at the plate, you were thrown out and you seemed pretty upset.

Were you upset that you were out?

Were you kind of surprised that you were sent at all?

What were your emotions?, . . Yeah, I was more just, a little bit sad on where I felt like, an immediate, immediate response where I felt like it was a more of a pain that I was going through just physically and, yeah, that's about it.

That's right.

Doing my job for me.

Thanks so much, George.

We say hello now to Ryan Walker after closing out what was an impressive win.

Ryan, thanks so much for taking the time.

Appreciate you joining us.

Kylan Mills here, your second save of the season, maybe one of the biggest of your career as you help this Giants team take down the Dodgers.

I could hear the crowd at Oracle Park chanting, "Beat LA," as you approach that final out, you get the big K. What's going through your mind in that type of at bat when you're going to work?

I mean, when it's loud like that, all I can do is make sure I got my breathing correct, stay calm, make sure I can make that next pitch.

You don't want that to, to take you overboard and make you do more than you need to have, than you have to do.

So I just stay calm out there with breathwork.

We'll give you a minute there.

It, it looks like you got a little bit lucky with how much less Gatorade was in there than normal.

Man, that was a first for me.

I've First experience, so that was, that was cold.

That's cold.

All right.

Well, we'll take it.

You'll, you'll let it slide right after a Dodgers win.

Yeah.

Well, Mike, Mike Krukow to end that game said, "That's a big league sa- league save right there."

Mm-hmm.

You went through a one, two, three inning, two punch outs.

Your Giants bullpen has been the best ERA bullpen in the big league since April 6th.

What has been the difference for you guys since then?

You know, as a bullpen, we just have been growing closer together.

and we've really just been picking each other up in all situations.

you know, we make sure we hang out outside the field and, and keep a, keep a bond and that really carries into the game.

So, that's helped us out a lot and we've been able to get the job done for each other.

Hey, Walker.

Sergio Romo talking here.

I w- I noticed that you've been showing a little bit more emotion, your previous outings- and that's something that has really intrigued me and something that I've been really happy to see myself.

Tonight it seemed like that emotion was trying to win that battle pitch by pitch.

Tell me about the mindset that you had going into that ninth.

Yeah, I mean, again, this off season I put a ton of work into my mental, mental strength and breathing, and for these moments.

so going out there again, I just handled my breath work.

I handled my mind and even though we got 3-2, didn't let it shake me, and like you said, just move on from the next pitch and make your next one.

And, that's what we did today and it succeeded.

Well, Ryan, thank you so much for the time.

We'll let you go dry off, my friend- but congrats on the win.

All right.

Yeah.

Thank you guys.

Hello, Eric.

How's it going?

Good to see you.

How you doing?

And you popped right up on the screen.

we wanted to bring you in because we were on the topic of talking about the Giants bullpen, which has been really good, not just in this game, but in April 6th.

I guess before we talk about this Dodgers game, what's been working as a group for you guys?

Like, what do you feel like is the flip that has switched here during this last couple weeks?

I would say it's just kind of getting, some cohesiveness.

I think guys are starting to maybe understand a little bit more kind of when we're throwing.

Obviously there's a lot of stuff that's still a little bit up in the air, but I think guys are starting to settle in a little bit more.

yeah, and I think we just kind of all, all have each other's backs.

you know, obviously the, the start of the season there was a couple rough games, but I think, since then we've bounced back really nice and we're starting to string together a lot of really good series against some good teams.

Eric, when you guys are in a bullpen the way that you guys are, where some roles are still up in the air- Yeah you got guys that are pitching in, in different high leverage situations, but when that phone rings from the sixth on, there's a lot of people whose names could be called.

How do you guys all prepare for that when, when you're down there kind of getting ready, doing your routines?

Yeah, I think, obviously, you're able to kind of read the lineup and, and look at some of the mashups.

You know, for me it's, it's pretty easy.

It's generally, you know, we're trying to find where the lefties are in the lineup, and if not, it's probably gonna be somewhere towards the top of the lineup most likely.

and then from there, you know, it's just, you gotta just gotta stay ready.

I, I think I've gotten pretty good the last couple years starting to, to read the lineup.

but even then, you know, you, you sometimes you might think you're going in and it's not you.

So the big thing is you can never turn, turn it off down there.

You can't just expect someone else name to be called and then it's yours.

And then that, that's where you can get in trouble is kind of when you, you kinda let everything dump out.

Hey, Miller.

We've noticed all of you guys have been a little bit more emotional lately, especially at the end of this last road trip or, and, you know, we'll make sure to say Cincinnati.

I've noticed that and I've been really proud of to see that out of you guys.

Is that the Is that like a conversation you guys are having to be a little bit m- more emotional or to just show what you guys have, the fire that you guys have and the fight?

I think, yeah, there, there's not really a conversation.

I think it's just some stuff that's come out naturally.

obviously kind of with, with what happened with me in Cincinnati, like that's not something that's forced, that's not really who I am.

But in, in the moment it's, it felt right given what had been going on.

and I think you're starting to see some guys maybe come out of their shell a little bit and, I think you see guys pitching with a little bit of a edge.

Now for every guy that can be different.

Maybe you're really emotional, maybe you're kind of a stone cold killer.

And I, I think the more kind of into it you are, you start to see that come out a little bit more.

So, yeah, I think it's just kind of, hasn't really been the conversations about it, but it's just been some stuff that's come up and it's been, it's been going really well.

It really seemed like since that Red Series, the team's been playing with kind of a chip on their shoulder.

Well, Eric, thanks so much for the time.

Appreciate it.

Congrats on the win.

Yeah, no problem.

Thank you.

Close