JULIO TEHERAN
On Gonzalez sending him out for ninth:
“I didn’t know that I was going out for the ninth. When I saw that he didn’t give me any sign, I was just focused on that inning and trying to complete it.”
On bouncing back after outing in San Francisco:
“That’s something that happens and I’ve been learning since I’ve been in the pros. Forget about that one and just concentrate on this one. I think I did a great job, just to keep my mind like that.”
On keeping focus when Gattis got sick:
“With those guys I do a great job, even if it was Gatti or with Gerald, I know I just need to concentrate on making pitches. I know they’re going to call a great game. And that’s what he did today. We just, even if it was the last 10 minutes before the game, he did a great job.”
On striking out last two with two on:
“I wasn’t thinking about if it was my last (batter), I was just concentrating on finishing and that’s what I did. I struck out those two guys. I didn’t want them to score. That’s something that helped me, when I think like that.”
On early run support:
“The last two games we’ve done a great job. If we keep going like that, we’re going to be fine.”
On when kid got hit by foul ball:
“That was frustrating for me. I just heard, I didn’t know if it hit a kid or a big person. I don’t like when they get a foul ball like that.”
On if he saw it:
“I didn’t see it. I knew that it was going to hit somebody because it was fast and hard and nobody would have a chance to get (out of the way).”
On if he heard the sound:
“Yes I heard it. That’s when I put my head down and I knew somebody got hit really bad. (Gomez too). I didn’t know there was a child … I hope he’s fine. If somebody knows him, please tell him that I hope he’s doing good.”
On slider getting better as game went on:
“Every time I get my slider working, I’ve have a game like this. Sometimes I’ve got to struggle with it. A game like this, I go out there and complete the game.”
On getting second complete game, want to be the horse:
“I feel a little different this time from the last time in Philadelphia, I was a little bit excited about the ninth inning. And this time I just concentrated, I was a little bit calm. I tried to do the same thing that I did in the eighth inning before.”
On his slider:
“I made the most strikeouts with my slider and every time I got my slider working, it was something in my mind I said ‘I’ve got something going.’”
On appreciating chance like that from manager:
“That’s something that motivates me when I get my manager’s confidence.”
GERALD LAIRD
On where he was when found out he was catching:
“I was sitting right here (at locker). It was three minutes until the anthem and I was sitting down, like bull crapping with the team and just joking around, getting ready for the game and TP came running up here, I thought he was kidding. I’m like ‘you’re kidding.’ He was like ‘nope, you’re in there.’ I was like oh man, talk about a panic mode. That’s part of my role, as a bench player you’ve got to be ready to go at any time in the game, you can’t complain, you’ve just got to go in there and try to get it done.”
On if chance to talk to Teheran briefly:
“No, not really. I’m familiar with him. I had a good idea what I wanted to do. I know their hitters pretty well from being here last year, and getting a chance to play against them in interleague and stuff. I just went out there and went with his strengths. I know what he can do. I know what pitches he had today and I was able to get down there and catch a few pitches before he came in the game. I just went with what I thought was good and his best pitches tonight.”
On what was working well:
“Early on his slider wasn’t working real well. He had his fastball command away real well and we didn’t really pitch in like we needed to. He kept commanding that fastball away and when he fell behind he was able to make pitches with his offspeed pitches. As the game went on, his slider got better and better and that’s what allowed him to go the full game.”
On if game-calling change after lead:
“When you get a lead like that. You kind of want to be more aggressive. I told him, we’ve got a four, five-run lead now, let’s come at these guys, but you still want to pitch. You don’t want to start laying heaters in there for them. Like I said, if we mixed in some offspeed pitches early, be aggressive with them, throw them in the zone, throw them for strikes and let’s get ahead. Because when you start falling behind things tend to snowball and get out of whack. But he was good about that. We went breaking balls early, threw them for strikes, and he was able to get able and then move his fastball up and down and he was really good tonight.”
On how awesome to see him get a chance to finish:
“Well it’s good, especially for a young guy like him. He’s still young and sometimes that’s the hardest thing to learn is how to close a game out. He gave up that single to lead off the ninth and I was just chirping at him ‘We’ve got to get it done. Let’s get it done.’ I know he had one earlier this season but the good ones, and the horses are able to go out there and they smell the blood in the water. He was able to settle down and make pitches and I’m glad he got it done.”
ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On if he was safe at second:
“Yeah I was safe.”
On how he got his hand in there:
“I watched JHey’s video a couple times, just throw the body over there, then twist (the hand) over there. I just tried to stay away from his glove. After I got my hand in there, I tried to stay on the bag and somehow I did that. I wasn’t sure that I didn’t come off the bag, but as soon as I saw I didn’t come off the bag on the video I knew I was safe.”
On if longest home run he’s hit:
“I couldn’t see it. I just ran. It felt good though.”
On nice to watch Teheran’s performance:
“Oh yeah, like I said before, he’s proven himself to be the ace of the team. He goes out, he had a bad outing a couple days ago, it’s the best way you can bounce back right there: shutout.”
On momentum building with third win in a row:
“It’s mostly our offense that started, the hard hit balls are finding holes. I thought there was little of that before. Hopefully we’ll keep it going. We’ve just got to keep doing what we’re doing, keep playing good defense and swinging the bat like we have the last couple games.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Teheran going out for the ninth:
“We were going to give him an opportunity. He deserves that. He earned that. There’s going to be a point in the game that we weren’t going to let him hurt himself or put himself in a position where you’re going to risk an injury, but I think what he threw 128, that’s right in the wheelhouse of as many pitches…That was his last hitter, obviously. But he pitched outstanding, mixed his pitches well. Did a nice job commanding the fastball up in the strike zone and also down and away a couple times. We gave him a little run support and had what three shutout innings that we talked about a few days ago, how important those things are when your offense scores. He did a nice job. Justin’s swinging the bat. We got some stuff going. Simmons breaks the game with the home run and we were able to put a big number up. We still left some people on base in a situation where we could have scratched out a couple more but Julio was terrific.”
On Laird forced into emergency duty:
“Yeah that was a quick..Eddie (Perez) calls me from the bullpen and says Gattis is not feeling too good right now. So we had to get Laird going. He was hanging around the locker room. Somebody said he thought we were joking with him. I said no, you’re in. Gattis isn’t feeling real well but our doctors looked at him and we’re calling it a viral thing, but I think he’s going to be OK. In the next day or two we’ll keep an eye on him, see how we can use him.”
On Simmons slide at second to avoid tag:
“When I went out there with Fielding (Culbreth) those umpires so far have been terrific, when you go out there. It’s kind of awkward standing around and I’m sure we’ll work that out next year but he goes, we talked through it and we got the signal. I couldn’t tell. I know it was bang-bang. It’s hard when you’ve got an arm going one way and a tag is going the other. So I think from what I saw that they got the play right and that’s the goal, get the play right. Again I think second and third nobody out we only got one on Julio’s chopper over the mound.”
On Teheran coming back strong after San Fran:
“That’s maturity. That comes from going out there every single time and getting all those starts he had last year. He knows how to control innings. He knows how to maneuver himself through a major league lineup. He does a lot of great stuff.”
On good plate appearances in three-run third inning:
“We’ve seen them now for three games, really good plate discipline. We walked four times today. It seems like we haven’t walked four times in a game in a long time. Fundamentally and approach-wise offensively, we’ve done a real good job.”
On Justin Upton’s power surge:
“We’ve seen it. We’ve seen it in April and a little bit of May. We all expect for him to carry those April numbers all the way through the course of the year and it doesn’t happen but he’s heating up again. And good for us, it’s the right moment to.”
