FREDDIE FREEMAN
On good to give Julio run support early:
“Definitely, we all knew with Julio giving him four in the first couple innings was probably enough with the way he pitches. He goes out there and shuts down hitters every single time he goes out.”
On loving the ambush:
“Yeah, well if it’s a strike I’ll swing. He was throwing strikes and I’m not a guy who’s going to let a strike go by. So I just swung and I got lucky and connected a couple times.”
On hungry coming here after series last week vs. Phillies in Atlanta:
“Definitely. It’s the last road series of this long trip and you want to go out and get some momentum going back home and obviously with them sweeping us last time, it was definitely nice to come out here and get the first win going into a doubleheader tomorrow.”
JULIO TEHERAN
On Laird going behind the plate on the fly again:
“That happened before. I was just trying to do the same thing, try to focus on my game. I know I’ve got good communication with him, the same thing with Gattis. Just try to pitch my game.”
On key to throw strikes and not walk anybody in this ballpark:
“Yeah, just try to be ahead in counts and start from there. That’s something that’s been working for me. The beginning was getting ahead to all hitters, that’s good for a pitcher, and then start to do whatever you want with them, one or two balls. That was my mentality today.”
On the 11-pitch battle with Mayberry:
“I was trying to just throw my pitch and everything I threw to him, he fouled off and the last one I threw it with all my strength and that’s when I got a little bit fired (up.)”
On relaxing more with the early lead:
“The biggest thing that would happen to a starting pitcher, they feel the confidence (you’re up) before you go in the first inning and that’s what I feel today. I just tried to do my job.”
On the pop-ups:
“The first one, I was looking for someone and I didn’t see, so I said OK that’s mine then. The second one we said at the same time we got it and I didn’t want (it) to (drop). I wanted to stay in the game so we got a little bit off communication.”
GERALD LAIRD
On more last-minute catching duty:
“I was ready. I went to bp and stretched out and come in here and sit for 30 minutes and I went in there and worked out. Thank God I did that and got my blood flowing, then I went out there just to watch the game and that’s how it can happen. That’s the role that I’ve got to play. As soon as that happens, I’ve got to go in there and perform.”
On fun to be behind the plate with Julio doing what he’s doing:
“Oh yeah I got to be back there a lot last year with him and just kind of the same thing. He probably didn’t have his best command of his stuff tonight but it’s fun, when he gets two or three pitches working he can be really tough on hitters.”
On Teheran’s key strikeout of Mayberry:
“Mayberry fought him all night. Mayberry put some good at-bats against him all night and I was like wow, but again Julio stepped up and made pitches when he needed to and that’s what the good ones do.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Teheran’s night:
“We got him in a little jam there and he got himself out of it and gave us seven strong innings. For me, four runs in the ballpark is nothing. We’ve seen guys come back from these deficits all the time. And they almost came back there in the eighth inning and then they had a chance there in the ninth with Mayberry’s ball there to straightaway center. I thought that ball had a chance to either be off the wall there or gone and B.J. made a nice play up against that wall.”
On Teheran’s 11-pitch strikeout of Mayberry:
“Mayberry gives us headaches. He’s hits .235 against the league, but I don’t think I’ve seen him make an easy out against us, even the at-bat there against Kimbrel. (And the at-bat against Teheran) got him almost to 120 pitches, the 11-pitch at-bat that Mayberry had against Julio. But Julio battled. He gave us a good opportunity to win today. We put him in a difficult situation there in that one inning and he minimized the damage and then he settled down.”
On what happened with Gattis:
“On the swing, on the strike three, he winced a little bit. Hopefully, Bubba (trainer Jeff Porter) said that he felt a little bit better as the night went on. We’ve got a doubleheader tomorrow. Maybe by the time the second game rolls, maybe the medication kicks in and he’ll be able to catch that game.”
On Freeman’s game offensively:
“Well he got four RBIs by himself. We hit some balls hard and we had some opportunities and we just couldn’t get those things to drop.”
On Schlosser up, if thinking about another move, bringing Bethancourt up if Gattis can’t play:
“No because it’s 15 days, if you DL Gattis, it’s going to be 15 days without him and Jeff doesn’t seem to think it’s going to be that long. We’re not thinking about that move right now.”
On wanting to keep the pitcher (Schlosser) as that 26th guy then:
“Yes, I think the way. I see what you mean now. Yeah I think we need the pitching more. You shoot yourself in the foot if you bring a position player in a split-doubleheader. I think you need the extra arm.”
On having Doumit as backup:
“He’s your third catcher. The only thing that that is not good because you can’t use him as a pinch hitter early in the game if you need to. You’ve got to wait always until the end. Bubba assured me that this could clear up in the next day or two and hopefully sooner.”
On how this stretch for Freeman compares to others:
“This is the way he can carry a club. Now we need to get a couple other guys the same way. He’s going and then Justin doesn’t get going and vice versa. He could do this. He could put a four RBI game against anybody really.”
On Laird coming in last minute against to catch Teheran:
“He did, but he’s a professional. He’s a guy that’s been around and done it for a long time and we’re lucky to have a guy with that experience as a backup catcher.”
On big punch-outs by bullpen:
“This ballpark, you don’t want to put people on base and get two strikeouts there to end the game and Howard first and second with two outs - that’s a big out.”
On Kimbrel settling back down after pitch up and in to Byrd:
“Yeah and I think that just got away. I’m going to look at the video on it but I think that ball just got away. There’s no way that Craig throws balls – he elevates the fastball in the strike zone but I think it just got away a little bit.”
On talking to Teheran about pop-ups:
“I told him the first one was a good call because there are two outs and it’s a left-handed hitter and Freeman is playing back and Chris can’t get there and Gerald can’t get there. The rule of thumb is you don’t want the pitcher catching flyballs in general. But he’s a good enough athlete that I encourage him to go ahead and catch that. I’m not so sure about the one in foul territory. He got a little overzealous on that one, but you give him an inch and next thing you know he’ll want to go play left field.”
