JASON HEYWARD
On adding some power back in the mix:
“It’s always nice to contribute to it and take some pressure off the next person. We all go up there, we want to fight and get the job done but it’s nice to have it come from different places.”
On about a month since previous homer:
“I feel like it was longer than that. Got to keep showing up every day, trying to put up good at-bats and fighting and get good pitches to hit. I feel like you try and do too much, that’s when you start to compound on things. But it’s nice also to see Doumit come in and get a start today and have good ABs, Tyler as well, Schafe to get a bunt down for us too.”
On if breaking ball he homered on 3-2:
“Yes. Same pitch I popped up last night.”
On sweeping Cubs before heading to San Francisco:
“They’ve got a good team. you want to play well at home. You want to have good homestands. To take all three is huge, especially when teams in our division are really close to us and all you can do is try to set out one game at a time and get big wins like this.”
On working pitchers, getting good at-bats as a lineup:
“Edwin had his thing going like he usually does. He’s wild effective on the mound but we were able to put some in play hard enough. Gat came through with a big homer there for us and we were able to get to their bullpen a little bit.”
On sweep to get back on track:
“It’s good to come away with three wins, especially with the teams in the division are so close. We feel like every game is going to matter regardless but with the way everybody has been playing well in the NL East, every game is going to matter.”
On B.J.’s catch to end the game:
“I told him he looked young out there, like it was the first inning, he looked fresh. He said he didn’t feel so fresh. I said it looked great on him.”
On if advantage seeing Giants and Cardinals again so soon:
“Yeah it’s a good thing having just seen them and seen their pitchers. I believe we’re getting the same three guys that we got last time. They’re not in our division but just having played them last week it’s a good thing.”
DAVID CARPENTER
On the save chance:
“It’s an opportunity to go out there and do something just a little bit different but relatively the same thing as far as going and trying to get three outs. It’s a little bit different than going in with a one or two-run lead. You’ve got a three-run lead, a little more of a cushion. You can attack more with fastballs and not worry about giving up a base hit or even a home run at that point because you still have a good lead. Just trying to go out and get the job done, it’s just an inning later for me…..We handled it the best we could. Give Craig a day and he’ll come back ready to go against the Giants the first day. ”
On B.J’s catch:
“That’s an unbelievable athletic play that he made. Being able to sit there for eight innings, come in, and we kind of joked about it, he said ‘Would you strike the guy out next time so I won’t have to run that far?’ I said I’ll do my best. I tell you what, that was a great play and a great way to end the game.”
AARON HARANG
On the two runs in the fourth:
“The cutter to Schierholz, I was trying to backdoor it, it caught a little more (of the plate) than I wanted it to right in his swing path. With a few runners on. I thought there was going to be a close play at the plate with Castro but he was able to get in there and I was able to shut it down after that.”
On finding rhythm next time through the lineup:
“I was able to bear down and make some good pitches after that and get them swinging at some pitches up too in the zone, and then guys put some runs on the board. I was able to settle down for a little bit. Once they got those two runs back, I had to bear down and really execute.”
On Gattis’ homer:
“It’s always fun to watch him hit homers. He’s done that quite a few times in his short career, but yeah he put a charge into that one. And Jason put another charge into the two-run homer there later in the game. That was huge. It’s nice to get us back in a rhythm and playing well, getting ready to go on the road.”
On being one win shy of last year’s total:
“It means a lot. I was able to get back out here and prove that I can still do this. I know there were probably a lot of people questioning it after last year. I’ve been pitching well and the guys are playing well behind me and we’re battling through games so it’s been a lot of fun, just got to keep it rolling.”
On having the strikeout in his back pocket today:
“I just had to bear down and execute some pitches. They have a young aggressive team over there. I think I was able to take a little bit of an advantage of that, knowing how aggressive they are.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Harang settling down in middle innings:
“He knows how to pitch. He knows how to maneuver himself through a lineup and he did a nice job, punched out nine guys, and it’s nice to see a veteran work. He’s not going to light up the radar gun but he’s going to get people out and have some swing and misses. Our offense helped him a little bit. Gattis right after he gave up two runs to tie the game, Gattis got us back on the board, took the lead and then a big two-run homer there in the seventh inning to give us a cushion. It was nice to get back and finish the homestand with a little kind of momentum. We didn’t start it real well but we finished it real well. Now we go to San Francisco to start a six-game road trip and hopefully we keep swinging the bats and improving that part of it and winning series.”
On big strikeout from Ian Thomas:
“He did a nice job. Run in him there against those left-handers and he got a couple right-handers out too, big right-handers there too with Lake. He did a nice job. We were going to give Kimbrel a day right from the very beginning, not go three days in a row, you’ve got to try to piece it together and those guys did a nice job getting us to Carpenter. And then BJ made a terrific catch there, sitting around all day long, really. He kept himself in the game, swinging the bat in the cages, getting loose and made a great catch there to end the game.”
On Doumit making most of playing time:
“He had a big RBI double yesterday. You run him in there with Justin, who has his back, which I don’t foresee it being a big problem. And get (Doumit) some at-bats and he did a nice job. He got two hits. That’s going to pay dividends down the road. The more at-bats you give a guy like Doumit and Schafer, it’s going to pay a lot of dividends down the road.”
On Chris Johnson swinging bat well:
“That’s the Chris Johnson we’ve seen. He has a great approach, and he keeps the line moving.”
On if wanted runners to hold on contact with infield in, on double play in second:
“No, we were going on contact. I think Ryan saw that the first baseman was near the bag and he didn’t want to get doubled up so he stopped. But we were going on contact.”
On Justin Upton:
“I expect him to play tomorrow.”
On if trying to not use Kimbrel when he doesn’t have to, given shoulder problem a few weeks ago:
“Exactly. And three in a row. We don’t want to do that and then ourselves in a pickle later on with him.”
