Here is what Braves manager Brian Snitker said following Wednesday’s 10-2 loss to the Phillies in Game 3 of the National League Division Series, including the decision to stay with starter Bryce Elder in the decisive third inning.
Q. Snit, this evolved much like Game 3 last year. Strider was so good for two innings, Elder tonight. What are your thoughts entering that third inning and especially after that first homer, do you think maybe starting getting guys up at that point in time?
A. After going into the third inning, I thought maybe go five. He looked like his old self. His stuff was really good. And, no, it just kind of went quick.
Q. To follow up, so even after the homer and a couple hits, whatever else happened, you still didn’t make the call or Kranny didn’t make the call until half Harper’s homer. There was no conversation prior to that about maybe getting somebody up earlier?
A. No, not really. I mean, I just -- you know, he had two outs and one guy on, I think, in the inning. It is a process.
Q. You’ve been around a long time. What are your impressions of what Bryce Harper has done not only in this postseason, but the last postseason and the kind of player he is?
A. Oh, yeah. He’s a Hall-of-Famer. I mean, he’s one of those guys that loves that stage. He’s always been very -- you know, he’s a special player. You put him in the spotlight, and he’s going to shine.
Q. Snit, did it hurt -- you handcuffed only having a couple of lefties in the pen that you could --
A. Yeah, because it’s going to come back around. You know, it’s tough that early to blow that and then -- or to use one of them because you’re going to get stuck, I mean, at least probably two more at-bats, him having to face right-handers.
And, two, the way Bryce was throwing, I was thinking, man, he was really good. And the slider was good. His change up was good. And it just kind of, I don’t know. I mean, it was the third inning of the game with a lot to cover on the back end of it.
Q. Snit, two homers in three games, just obviously it was a big part of your offense all year. Just how do you look at that?
A. We didn’t -- and, two, we didn’t swing the bats that well today. (Aaron) Nola was really good, again. And we’ve been an offensive team.
And in two of the three games in this series, we haven’t been. So hopefully we come out tomorrow and swing the bat, score runs and put ourselves in the position to get this thing to a Game 5.
Q. When you finally did make the change, you chose Tonkin over hand or Smith-Shawver. I’m just curious what went into that decision.
A. Because he’s the guy that can get loose quicker and that’s kind of the guy we were in the game that we’ve been using.
You can second guess everything we do. If it doesn’t work, it’s not the right move. We had Tonkin up for Max the other day. And that’s a particular point in the game.
And if we’d have went through another inning, then we would have changed to somebody else, but that just kind of -- you know, and we got a lot of guys that we had one up on things. It’s just the guy that we had right there.
Q. Going back to Harper, given what you said about he is a special player, did you give any thought to walking him in that moment?
A. You know, I did honestly. I hate to put -- I was just hoping maybe that we’d make a pitch on him and he’d pop a ball up or if we walked him unintentionally, that would have been fine. And he hit a homer. He could have popped it up. He could have rolled it over to somebody, and he didn’t. That’s just kind of, you know, what it is.
Q. What were your thoughts at what A.J. did, and how could that help him if you need him?
A. No. I think it was great that he got to experience this. Just to get him in the game and get him out there. It was good. It’s good for him.
Going forward, it’s just something he can build on, because he’s going to be a big part of this for a long time as long as he’s here.
It was good to get him in that game at that particular time where we knew he could stretch the game for us, and we didn’t have to use a lot of our relievers, and now we got them for the next two games.
Q. Nobody wants to be down 2-1, but if you’re going to be down 2-1, how nice is it to know you have Strider and Fried?
A. That’s great. If we can’t win one of both games or both of those games with those guys, you know what, I feel pretty good with the next two starters that we got.
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