Quotables
Head Coach Willie Bloomquist
Opening statement
“After the way this weekend has gone, to come out with a series win is huge. Can't say enough about Kole Klecker. And thank you to Jaden Alba for keeping my blood pressure in check today and making the ninth inning uneventful for the most part. So those two guys threw the heck out of the ball today. Can't say enough about the job that they did, just huge, tremendous. Love having a veteran guy on Sunday that knows what he's doing and is able to keep his composure and keep his cool and not let the moments get too big. He just threw the ball outstanding. On the first play of the game, we booted a ball there. And he didn't let it affect him. He buckled down and was able to get out of there with only one run given up where it looked like it could have been some trouble there early. But both those guys threw the ball outstanding. Offensively, we did enough. It wasn't a bang up performance on our part, by any means, but we did enough. Hairston with another good day at the plate. Can't say enough about the bottom of the lineup. PJ (Moutzouridis) getting on base three times for him. Some things that may go unnoticed, that the defensive play of Dominic Longo at third base today was huge. Just did a great job over there at the hot corner, and we got enough offense to get it done. Again, it wasn't overly impressive, but we did enough to get it done.”
On Dominic Longo’s versatility playing center field and third base
“When we got a couple guys dinged up the way we do right now, we're gonna need that flexibility. And that's just something that he's able to do, and does a really good job at. He hasn't really taken a lot of reps there (at third base), because we haven't really had much practice time lately. We've just been playing games, but for him to move from the outfield to the infield, I know firsthand how difficult that is, especially from center field to the hot corner, where the reaction is so much quicker. And for him to come out and play the way he did today, defensively, that's why I said I didn't want that to go unnoticed. He did a tremendous job over there defensively, and came up with a big hit. On most days, it would have been an RBI double, but Nu’u (Contrades) is not running great right now, but it’s a big hit there. And I think the offense is coming from him. We need it to, but he's working diligently at it, and we got to get him a little more aggressive. The ball's up in the zone, and I think hopefully the swing will start coming back around.”
On the way the team has handled the recent stretch of games
“Okay, not bad. Again, this is a learning experience. We knew that the stretch was going to be a grind. We knew we were going to get battle tested on the pitching front, just from a workload standpoint, and guys were gonna have to step up and figure out who we are. It's not an excuse for some of the pitfalls we've had, but we knew this was going to be a grind of a stretch, and not many teams schedule this many games in this short of days. But there's two ways to look at it: a lot of teams don't even schedule a full 56. We think that that's important for a number of reasons. A, to get our guys experience. B, gives us an opportunity to hopefully get more wins, which becomes helpful and at the end of the year. But we knew this was going to be a grind of a stretch, and once we get through tomorrow, then it kind of gets more regular for us, so we'll hopefully get back into sequencing a little bit better.”
On seeing Landon Hairston’s remarkable season
“It's obviously great to sit back and watch him do his thing. I don't sit back and try to take claim for what he's doing. I'm just trying to make sure he stays on the railroad tracks and keeps going the way he's going. And I'm not going to over coach him. There's small little reminders every now and again that we have to do. But for the most part, that kid knows what he's doing. It's just fun to sit back and watch him do his thing. It's, again, very impressive. And for those who haven't seen him play, you need to. It's fun to watch him.”
Infielder Dominic Longo
On the adjustments playing both center field and third base
“The biggest adjustment honestly is my arm slot. Going from the outfield to the infield, that’s been the biggest thing is adjusting the arm. Other than that, going out there being an athlete and giving it all I got. (It’s) fun to be able to switch in between both those positions...It’s honestly some of my favorite positions on the field, I don’t have a preference. I enjoy playing both.”
On the team’s ability to produce runs on big hits even through RISP struggles
“It’s awesome. It’s a cool little tool that we got. We can always put it together. If we’re not gonna score them by hits, then we’ll score them by homeruns with power or walks. It’s awesome having both, and we’re working on protecting both.”
Pitcher Kole Klecker
On pitching at Phoenix Municipal Stadium and winning a tough series over Utah
“Yeah, it’s cool. Big rubber match here, big one-on-one game. Keep us rolling and get some momentum going to be able to go out there and throw a good one. Defense was great behind me and (to get) deep into the seventh inning was huge. We were looking for some length today with the amount of guys that threw (last night), keep arms healthy. Cool moment when Muni’s behind us, it’s tough to beat us, (it’s) special.”
On if they were more process oriented on Sunday against the Utes
“Yeah, when you try to focus on results, it takes you out of the present moment. This game is already hard in itself. Anything you do that might limit how you can perform, it’s not even about the physical stuff, most of the time you’re hurting yourself. We came together and like you said, emphasis was on the process and how we can execute our job in that moment. We did a good job with that today on both sides of the ball, and came out with the win that took the series.”
Pitcher Jaden Alba
On if he had any pressure going into Sunday’s game after Saturday's pitching performance
“No, we got guys that are in the pen. Everybody in there, we can trust them all. Do my job, whether it was one or two innings, coming in after (Klecker) doing the same thing he was. Get ahead of hitters, getting after hitters, and being able to get them out early and limit the amount of pitches. We both did a great job at that. We had one walk this whole game, being able to attack hitters and go right after them was the biggest key. Especially after the past couple of games. We executed on that part.”
