KRIS MEDLEN
On getting over .500:
“When you look back at starting 1-6, I’m not done yet, but you get to this point right now it’s pretty fun to look back and see that I started 1-6 and kind of turned things around. Obviously I’m not the one scoring the runs. They had a huge inning for me today. That’s kind of what’s gotten me to this point this year. Me trying to put up zeros and the team scoring runs for me.”
On continuation of past few starts:
“I felt like I had three pitches today. I threw a lot more four-seamers today. They’re a contact kind of team. They’ve got some pesky guys, and they foul off a lot of pitches. I looked up and I didn’t realize I had as many pitches as I did because I felt like I was controlling the game for the most part. But took advantage of the park a little bit and threw a lot more four-seamers up in the zone today, got some more flyouts than usual. Everything felt pretty good today, felt good coming out of the pen which is always a good sign.”
On reaching a point in the season, not worrying or overthinking things:
“I had the success I’ve had my career so far before this year and then you start a year the way I started, I think I just got a little frustrated and jumped the gun a little bit. But it’s such a long season and I’ve got some good guys around me to keep me going in the right direction and straighten things out.”
On all the offense in that one inning:
“It was double, double, double. We’ve got some guys who can swing the bat and it happens. Hernandez has been a tough pitcher against us all year, past two or three starts that he’s had. A guy with good stuff that pounds the zone. When you get a guy like that you’ve got to take advantage of whatever mistakes you can get and we did that today.”
ELLIOT JOHNSON
On success vs. Alvarez:
“I think early on maybe we weren’t necessarily getting any production but we were wearing him down a little bit. It seemed like guys were having good at-bats, putting together a lot of pitches every at-bat, making him work for the outs not just giving him outs. I think that contributed. Obviously we put together a bunch of runs in that inning and that ultimately led to them pulling him out but I think early on building up his pitch count made the decision to pull him a little sooner than they probably wanted to.”
On if everyone benefitted from seeing him first time through lineup:
“It seemed like that was the case because that second time around everybody had a much better feel. He had a really really fastball the first inning. He came out, he’s throwing 98s up there. The second inning wasn’t quite as high, and that could be part of the reason why we had to work the counts a little bit, maybe fouling off a few more pitches. Gattis coming up with a huge double really got things rolling right there and built the momentum from there.”
On seeing Medlen at his best this year:
“He’s tough man. You really have no idea what he’s coming with and that’s what makes him so good. So it’s hard to be aggressive. You see a lot of defensive at-bats, a lot of defensive swings because there’s no real indication that he’s going to stick with the fastball because he can throw his change-up any time he wants and mix in a curveball. And he throws fastballs at both sides of the plate. He really doesn’t give you a whole lot of stuff to hit. I faced him a lot in the minor leagues and last year too and he just doesn’t want to give you anything to hit. Normally you’re trying to look for a mistake but if a guy doesn’t throw you a mistake you end up two strikes real quick.”
On how nice to see a five-spot:
“Five spots are great. It’d have been nice to put on a few more but we’re going to take it any time we end up with five and they get four or less.”
EVAN GATTIS
On getting things going in the fourth:
“It’s good. Any time you’ve got runners in scoring position, it’s always good to capitalize on that. Just look for good pitches. The approach is the same. Not trying to hit it a certain place or anything like that. Of he throws it in, try to go in. Got two pitches to hit, missed one of them and got a fastball in, got it down the line.”
On Alvarez ranging from 98 to 62 mph:
“He did the same thing at our place, the report. Just staying on the heater.”
On one of those nights it benefitted lineup to see him one time through:
“I think so.”
On getting the weekend behind you and get some offense going:
“Yeah, for sure, any game we win is good. We’re just trying to get in the right direction and it’s good to ease up, relax and just get back to winning baseball games.”
On Medlen:
“Great, outstanding. He’s just been lights out. He’s just really throwing the ball well right now.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On the fourth inning:
“We kept the line moving. We got five hits and five runs in one frame and we made it hold up. But that’s what you’re taking about, keeping the line moving, put a crooked number up there. And Medlen was terrific, he really was. He gave us a great chance to win a ballgame. Avilan came in and cleaned up the seventh and Luis did a nice job pitching the eighth inning. Then Kimbrel, an uneventful ninth inning.”
On Marlins sneaking back in the game:
“They’ve got some good hitters, and Ed Lucas is a thorn in our side. He came up with a big at-bat there against Medlen. We were set up to maybe get a four-out save with Kimbrel, but it didn’t materialize which is good. I think he was going to pitch no matter what today but obviously it was a save situation, he hadn’t pitched in four days, maybe five days. He got some work in and also got himself a save.”
On Medlen getting over .500:
“I looked up at the scoreboard today and I was surprised he wasn’t. I thought he had pitched better than that. I think sometimes those numbers are skewed a little bit. Early on in the year he wasn’t getting any run support and giving up three runs and losing 4-3. It’s nice. Hopefully we got him a lot more above .500.”
On so many clean innings for him:
“He got strike one a lot today. I thought his curveball, well I thought all his pitches were really, really good, but I thought his curveball – he threw some breaking balls – I don’t know if it’s because we’re closer than we’re used to to home plate (in the visiting dugout at Marlins Park) but I thought it had some real sharpness to it.”
On Gattis of late:
“He’s been great. He deserves a chance to play. He’s playing well, swinging the bat. That’s a big bat in the middle of the lineup.”
