Quotes from B.J. Upton, Justin Upton, Kris Medlen and manager Fredi Gonzalez following Friday's loss to the Reds.
FREDI GONZALEZ
On if sign of the times for Medlen:
“Well we just got behind the 8-ball from the very beginning. I thought our bullpen did a terrific job, Woody especially in those middle innings. It was one of those games you could really ran three or four pitchers out of the bullpen or even more. Woody gave us those (3 2/3) innings that kept them in check and gave us a chance to get back in it. And you feel in pretty good shape when you’ve got McCann at the plate down two runs and get a chance to tie it at least.”
On if Wood showed something he hasn’t seen:
“No. I’ve seen it every time we’ve used him in those situations. He’s responded and today he did a hell of a job. He made two of the premier left-handed hitters in the major leagues Votto and Bruce, he made some great pitches on them and that’s always a good sign.”
On assessing outfield situation:
“We’re talking through it right now. We’ve got three guys banged up. We’re not going to make a decision right now but in about 20, 30 minutes we’re going to talk through some different scenarios, some situations and some different options we could have to get a body up here tomorrow.”
On B.J., Justin’s status:
“Right now it’s what you guys got this evening and right now we’re just going to re-evaluate tomorrow.”
On if All-Star break coming at a good time:
“No. I wish it was tomorrow. But it’s not. We’ve got two more games to play against a tough team and we’re pretty banged up right now.”
On if a chance any of the three could play Saturday:
“I don’t know. We’ll see. I know Jason is getting better throughout the course of the day. He came in this afternoon, felt a little better. (Jeff Porter) said he responded to some treatment. But we’ll see again tomorrow.”
On if any consideration to bringing up Gattis after only one game on injury rehab:
“No. I don’t think so. I think that’s pushing the envelope and putting another guy in a situation where he could reinjure it or fail. That’s kind of risky.”
On job Arroyo did:
“That’s no surprise. Every time we face him, it’s like he’s in the backyard playing whiffle ball. There’s not any pitch he won’t throw in any count. His arm angle changes from pitch to pitch and he competes. He’s a guy that every year cranks up 30 plus starts and gives those guys a lot of innings.”
On Schafer’s extended another four weeks probably, insult to injury:
“Everybody goes through injuries. We talk about those right from the very beginning in spring training. Everybody is going to go through injuries and teams that survive those injuries during the course of the year are going to be there at the end. You feel pretty good that we can survive those injuries. We have to survive it. It’s our turn. Everybody has a turn it seems like in the major leagues, it always seems like there are two or three injuries. Now it’s our turn to survive that.”
On last two OFers out there:
“You got to see a couple guys play that we weren’t expecting to see play, saw Terdo play and he made a couple nice reads on balls. Pastornicky, he only got a groundball in center but you run those guys there, give them an opportunity see what happens.”
On if it could be more than one move:
“It all depends on what we’re going to do. We’ve got to talk through it. You don’t have to DL anybody. We’ll see what happens. In the next 15, 20 minutes we’ll let you know something.”
JUSTIN UPTON
On his injury:
“My calf kind of locked up on me and that was it, halfway down the line. It’s calmed down. It’s a little sore. We’re kind of going to play it by ear tomorrow.”
On if something he’s had to deal with in past:
“No I haven’t really had any leg issues. This is a first for me.”
On difficult 24 hours for outfield:
“It’s been a little bit rough but as usual we’ll make it through it. Our guys off the bench will do what they do and we’ll be fine.”
On if like a cramp:
“That’s what it felt like. Obviously I wanted to go back out there but they wanted me to come in and check it out and see what was going on.”
On if might have got it before it got bad:
“I don’t know. It just happened. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
BJ UPTON
On what happened on the play:
“I just kind of jammed my knee into the ground going after the ball and just kind of jerked my leg outward and felt a little something in it.”
On if ball was coming straight at you, knuckling:
“With the backdrop, it’s tough to see sometimes and when I dove for it, it was a lot higher than I thought it was. I think if I could have seen it a little bit better we probably wouldn’t be dealing with this situation right now. But it was a tough play, unfortunately this is what came out of it.”
On what timeline is now:
“I don’t know. We’ll re-evaluate tomorrow, see how it feels. Obviously they’ll have to make a decision pretty quickly.”
On how he feels:
“It’s not too bad. I think it’s just sore from the initial hit but we’ll give it a nice rest and see how I feel tomorrow.”
On all three outfielders going down a matter of 24 hours:
“Yeah I don’t know. It must be something in the water I don’t know. Unfortunately it goes that way sometimes. We’re a good enough ball club to get things done and luckily we have the All-Star break coming up to get some guys some rest.”
KRIS MEDLEN
On his night:
“It’s the same mechanical issues I’ve really dealt with all year. I’m not giving up many hits on my change-up. It’s been all my fastball with location and the same exact things I’ve been dealing with. I’ve been pulling off. I’ll go and look at my mechanics (on video) every game and I’m doing the same things. I’m trying to make adjustments and when it comes down to in the game, making the adjustments stick, it just hasn’t got there for me. I’ll throw a really good fastball on the corner for one pitch and then four out of the next five are just right down the middle. Feel like I’m throwing some good change-ups up there. The first time through the lineup I didn’t throw my curveball very well. I was bouncing it and whatever else. My second and third time through, I was throwing it for strikes better. They were taking that, so I tried to utilize that and tried to throw that for strikes. But when I tried that fastball on the corner to get a guy out, it just came back middle. Votto’s double to the corner. I was 3-2 to a lot of guys and I don’t like walking guys. I’d rather have a guy hopefully roll over on a ball when I’m trying to challenge him with 89. Frustrating. Two starts in a row where I gave up a couple runs in the first and put us in a hole. Alex Wood did an unbelievable job. I’ve been in that situation a few times in my tenure here. I think the last time somebody came in with the bases loaded out of the bullpen against Cincinnati it was in Cincinnati and it was me and I gave up a grand slam. I told him that afterwards and I was like ‘Dude, good job.’ That’s a really tough thing to get out of especially given the circumstances. To give up only one run out of that it’s a pretty big deal.”
On if fighting it coming out of the bullpen:
“Yes. I’m fighting it all four days in between starts and whatever else. It’s just something I’ve really tried to work on. A lot of times it’s just the smallest little thing that needs to be made and I’m thinking about other things. I’ve said it all year but it’s baseball. There are ups and downs and the game checks on you and sees how hard you’re working and you’ve just got to battle through the downs and I’ll be fine.”
On all three outfielders injured in two days:
“I’ve definitely never seen that before. But they play hard out there and we need them to be making plays and they’re trying to make plays so it’s unfortunate but it’s part of the game. We need dudes to step up for them if they’re not OK to go.”
