The Braves won Sunday, preserving their season for at least another day.
Monday’s Game 4 is another win-or-stay-home scenario. The Braves are bringing Mike Foltynewicz back on short rest to oppose Dodgers lefty Rich Hill. If the Braves win, they’ll play a deciding Game 5 in L.A. on Wednesday.
Braves catcher Tyler Flowers spoke with the media before Game 4. He explained what to expect from Foltynewicz and the challenge of facing Hill.
On Foltynewicz changing his approach after Game 1:
“I mean, maybe slightly. Not really, though. I mean, the majority of his game is attacking with the fastball. When his slider is on, it's a whole lot of fun. When it's not, we gotta find other avenues to mix in off speed just so they have to respect both ends. But I think he did learn a lot from that outing. I mean, it could have been a lot worse than what it was. With that said, though, I thought he did a great job controlling his emotions, at least externally, but I think maybe internally he was still a little too jacked up and it wasn't allowing him to execute the pitches how he wanted to.
“So I think -- coming into this one, and probably shortly after that one, I think he internally made some adjustments and kind of understood what he needs to do if he gets another opportunity. So we'll see how it plays out today. But I think his game plan is pretty obvious. He throws hard. He challenges towards the top of the zone. When the slider is on, it's a really tough at-bat. If you got more than that going for you, then we got a lot of options to get ahead and put guys away.”
On Foltynewicz's emotions:
“Typically, I would say it's more like with his emotions. Like the last one, I was worried about him -- I'm sure a lot of people were -- just being too jacked up. If anything, I felt like in the bullpen warming up for that game, he was almost too relaxed. Only a couple of them it seemed that he really turned them loose before he went out to start the game.
“I'd like to see a little more of the normal Folty, like on the edge of kind of going crazy out there, because he seems to be pretty good when he's teetering right at that edge of out of control and really cutting it loose. That's the first time I've really seen that as far as before that game.
“Other than that, I think most of the time he lives kind of at that edge, and that's kind of where we like him to be, controlled at that end of the spectrum.”
On Hill's declining velocity but excellent off-speed:
“It evens out with how good his curveball is, his ability to throw that anytime for strikes, for chase. He's a tougher matchup. I mean, for me specifically, I think he's one of the tougher lefties to face. The curveball you want to hit seems so far away out of his hand that you want to shut down on it, and the ones that look like good ones to hit disappear under the zone or at your foot.
“With that, his fastball, maybe it's gone down a little bit, it still plays up for him and he does a nice job pitching towards the top of the zone as well, which makes the velocity a little higher. We'll see. Trying to have a good approach off him again. And if you see a pitch out, that's the one to swing at, and the one that looks like a strike, let it go.”
