JASON HEYWARD
On being a part of this offensive outpouring:
“I’m glad to see stuff come together. We have a ways to go to finish out the season. We all know that. We take it day by day but it’s fun right now. It’s been fun all year for us. We’ve had a positive mindset to overcome some of the injuries and things we’ve had to overcome, but we’ve always felt like we could do better. We’re starting to see it.”
On job young pitchers did:
“Hats off to them. It’s fun to watch from center field. Absolutely and watching Brian (McCann) put those fingers down and call the games he’s been calling for us, has been awesome. Guys coming off the bench hitting lately, guys who got called up recently putting up good at-bats, not up there star struck or anything like that. Proud of them, happy for them. And all around team wins with defense, pitching and some timely hitting.”
On seeing Justin getting loose at the plate:
“I don’t know. For some reason he thinks he has to go find his power again but I don’t really think he has to look too far. Really happy to see him do what he’s capable of, relax, be comfortable and have some fun. And Chris Johnson, just press a button and it seems like he can get a hit. Really happy for him right now as well, the way he’s swinging the bat.”
On facing Bettis for first time:
“We had a good approach. Started with me my first at-bat. I made sure I got something to hit. I know Julio had a great first inning but he had to get himself out of some trouble, so I wanted to make him throw some pitches. And he ended up putting me on and Justin went up there and got a pitch to hit and we jumped out to a lead early. I feel like that was the key against him or anybody new. You want to get good pitches to hit and hit those and try to make him throw strikes for you. I feel everybody right now as a whole, we have good approaches at the plate. We’re patient no matter whether we make an out or not, we’re really patient, and trying not to miss the good ones.”
On if feel this momentum can carry over to the road:
“We take it one game at a time, whether we had a bad homestand, bad road trip, good one, vice versa. We want to always look at the day of, and that’s what we can control. This is behind us, great homestand, great fan support, great crowd support. Now we’ve got to take care of business in Philly.”
On three strikeouts and three home runs:
“Nice. Well done. We never look at strikeouts. We have never looked at strikeouts. Everybody else is paying attention. If we lose, oh they strike out, if we win, oh they hit home runs. We had one of the younger teams, so I feel like everybody is just kind of hitting their stride now, coming together, gelling, really nice.”
JUSTIN UPTON
On the win streak:
“It’s been a good homestand, all around as a team. We’ve played well. We’ve swung the bats well. We’ve gotten some unbelievable pitching performances out of our guys. It’s been fun to be a part of.”
On if best all-around ball you’ve played this season:
“Yeah. We started out the season pretty good too, so it’s tough to compare because the other one was so long ago. This is a nice little run. We’ve really clicked this homestand and hopefully it’s the start of something good.”
On getting the ball out of the yard again:
“It comes and it goes. You’ve got to enjoy it when it’s going well for you and the ball is carrying out of the yard for you. You right it out and you continue to try to get your hits.”
On if starting to feel like April with your swing, relaxed:
“You always feel different. Different periods feel they’re not the same. This one feels a little bit different. I feel like I’m taking a lot more singles and capitalizing on some of the pitches in the middle of the plate and driving those so it’s a good feeling to have. You work every day to keep it.”
On feeding off what teammates are doing:
“Yeah, everybody is clicking. You see guys putting good at-bats together and it gives you a little incentive, a little confidence to go up there and try to follow them up. Jason has been doing a great job and he’s kind of handed the baton to me and try to hand it down to the next guy.”
On looking for in first at-bat against guy never faced:
“You look for a mistake. It’s his first start. I haven’t seen him. He hasn’t seen me. You go out and hopefully the adrenaline makes him make a mistake. The next two at-bats, once he settled in, he got me. So you try to look for a pitch in the middle of the play, get something you can handle.”
On if Escalona got him mad with pitch inside:
“It was a breaking ball that got away. It did freak me out a little bit. It was at my head so just kind of step back in and do what you can.”
On getting back to where he feels comfortable:
“What I worked on in the offseason, got away from me after April. I’ve been working to get back to it. It’s been a process. It’s been working for me.”
JULIO TEHERAN
On getting out of the first inning jam:
“I was just trying to make my best pitch and get out of there. They were swinging so I was just trying to make that pitch.”
On the battle with Dickerson, fouling off pitches:
“I know. I was trying to make my pitch and he was just foul, foul, but I’m glad I made my pitch and I got the sac fly.”
On if got mad and started throwing the ball harder:
“Yeah I was trying to blow him out, but he still fouled (them off).”
On what was working:
“I didn’t use my two-seamer like I did earlier in the season. Today I was trying to make my pitch and using my four-seamer that was coming out good from my hand.”
ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On if most impressive offensive stretch:
“I felt like everybody contributed throughout the lineup, from top to bottom. I feel like this is the best I’ve seen us play consecutively so far.”
On what it’s been like to be on this offensive roll:
“It’s a little crazy. I really felt like no matter how many runs they scored, we were going to outscore them. Everybody looked good at the plate. Everybody seemed comfortable. Justin’s hitting the ball well. Freddie’s doing what he’s been doing the whole year. Jason is crushing the ball. BMac is doing the same. Everybody is pretty much doing well at the plate, and it’s fun to see.”
On starting pitchers rally after Hudson’s injury:
“Everybody has been stepping up lately and throwing strikes. They’ve been pounding the zone, Julio again today, great job. They tried to get him out of the game. He stayed in there. He was still throwing strikes.”
On Julio hitting 95 today:
“He got a little upset they were fouling the pitches and they couldn’t swing and miss. Eleven strikeouts. He threw pretty well but they made him work for it, they did a good job making him work.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On describing the offense of late:
“Very good. An offense that took advantage of some situations, I don’t know what we were with runners in scoring position but it didn’t seem like we missed very many (4-for-11). And 1 through 8 did a nice job. Today the bullpen gave us a great four innings. Juli wasn’t as sharp as we’ve seen him before, but boy he battled. Getting out of that first inning, and getting out of that second inning with minimal damage was a big turning point. I thought the first inning after he gives up a couple infield singles, bases loaded, you see the mph really elevate. I think it was 93, 94 against Helton and the next guy. And he really did a nice job there.”
On lineup with Heyward leading off, Upton No. 2:
“He’s had a terrific homestand, hitting No. 2, hitting a couple home runs today, driving the baseball. We need him and Jason has done a terrific job leading off and it also goes unnoticed how well he’s played center field for a guy who only had a small amount of games out there.”
On the foul ball that hit C. Johnson in the dugout:
“Right off the top of the foot. I didn’t affect him obviously. He stayed in the game and got three hits, couple RBIs.”
On the evolution of offense from HR to base hits:
“I think we’re swinging right now and hopefully that continues.”
On Teheran went with fastball when he needed it:
“In that first inning, I think he just got upset and he really elevated his game with his fastball. He blew it by some pretty good hitters there in that first inning.”
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