HOUSTON – Here are some of the top post game quotes from the Astros following their 4-1 ALCS Game 5 loss to the Yankees in New York. Game 6 is Saturday night, 7:08 p.m. first pitch at Minute Maid Park.
Astros manager A.J. Hinch :
Q. Can you tell us what happened with Verlander there in the first inning and how he was able to get back on track?
Hinch: Yeah, he was incredible after the first. They felt really good about going into the bottom of the first. We had put up a run and then we were just barely a few feet away from putting up a second run with Bregman's bullet to left field. And then we go into the bottom of the first, LeMahieu took a couple big swings, hits the homer and woke up the building. And Judge hit a pitch he hasn't pulled hardly at all this season for the bullet base hit. And then Torres did what Torres has been doing this series, which is pretty good at-bat, snuck a ball inside the line. And then Hicks had a really good at-bat in a mistake slider for a homer off the foul pole 315 feet away.
I thought he recovered great and did his best to continue to keep us in the game, because that was a great recovery after an inning that looked like it was spiraling away from him. The two balls that they hit, unfortunately, went out of the ballpark.
Justin Verlander, Astros pitcher on the first inning trouble:
"Fastball command wasn't very good and (the) slider was just hanging. Wasn't able to execute really anything. Had Hicks in the hole and wasn't able to execute really anything. Got ahead of him (Hicks) early, had opportunities to get a strike out or get a weak fly ball and just let him right back in the count. Then hung him a slider, 3-2."
Alex Bregman, Astros third baseman
Q: How do you feel about the overall situation, going back to Houston with the (series) lead. A.J. (Hinch) said a bullpen game tomorrow and then you have Cole for a possible game seven?
Bregman: It's awesome. We came here, took two out of three. Good road trip for us. Come back home to Houston and get after it tomorrow.
Michael Brantley, Astros outfielder
Q: How do guys help Yordan Alvarez remain confident through this struggle a little bit during the playoffs?
Brantley: He's gonna be just fine. He's a great hitter, he has a lot of talent. I'm not worried about him at all.
Carlos Correa, Astros shortstop on the offense
"I'm not too worried about that. We need one game where the offense goes off and we can put 10 runs in one game, that would be nice. But at the same time, we know we are facing great pitching on the other side, so we have to go out there try to put great at-bats together as a team, for us to have that chance."