Oct. 19 Anthony Rizzo, Addison Russell postgame interview

Q. Addison, when you hit the home run and you were rounding the bases, you gave a couple fist pumps. Was it a matter of relief, exhilaration or a little bit of both there?

ADDISON RUSSELL: I would say all of the above. I’ve been struggling this postseason a little bit, but didn’t panic. My confidence was still there. I feel like I’ve been seeing the ball well, taking some pretty good swings. So definitely wasn’t panicking. I was a little more frustrated than anything else. But got back down to about my work and my athletic, my work ethic, and it’s fine. So it’s definitely a sigh of relief to have a big night.Q. Anthony, can you tell us a little bit about Matt Szczur’s bat? Using it maybe last night and how often you’ve done that, and how it feels to get on the board here?

ANTHONY RIZZO: I’ve done it a few times, especially later on in the year. Especially today. The first two at-bats weren’t so hot. Szcz came out today with a nice feature on him about him giving his bone marrow, so all the things were just adding up. I hit well with his bat, so he has hits in it. Same size, just different model and different name, and it worked.Q. Anthony, you’ve been around long enough to know that slumps come and go. And if there’s always going to be at-bats out there, and assume they’re going to be better when you’re in a slump. This time of year, does it start to feel a little more finite? You can probably count the number of at-bats in the best scenario, and does it start to grind on you after a couple of strikeouts earlier today? You start thinking I don’t have a lot of time left here, I’ve got to get going?

ANTHONY RIZZO: I think like Addie said, the work ethic and what you do is there. Our confidence is up. The best part about the postseason is it’s the next bat. You’ve got to turn the page to the next at-bat, and you’ve got to be ready for that big situation. All the guys in the clubhouse are there telling you, all the veterans: It just takes one at-bat. It just takes one. It’s all about winning games, and we came up on the good side tonight.Q. Last week we talked about you getting back to what you do, taking the deep breath and just getting back to the baseball you play. Looked good today. Can you talk about did you switch anything up or did you just stick to your script?

ADDISON RUSSELL: It’s pretty much the same thing. I still had the same approach. The only thing that changed from last week is just lowering …

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