- Quotes compiled by Chris Vilvamore and Carroll Rogers
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Mike Minor:
“He pitched great. Seven innings, one run. We just didn’t get anything offensively all day long. We had a tough time figuring out their starter (Hisashi Iwakuma). The guy was only throwing 87, 88 miles per hour. He sure looked like he was throwing a lot harder with it. I know he had movement and some of it was deception but we didn’t really square up too many balls against him. Their bullpen is pretty darn good. With (Fernando) Rodney it’s hard to get squared up also. Mikey was outstanding.”
On Minor working deeper into games:
“His start in Boston he got us seven innings. Here tonight, he got us seven innings. He was good out. The last couple times he goes out there he has given us a great opportunity to win a ball game. In Boston, we came out with a chance to win the game. But you have to score runs.”
On Shae Simmons:
“Well, every time you go out there and keep throwing zeros out you keep getting opportunities. I don’t think we are going into the ninth inning. I think we have that one covered.”
On frustration in getting no run support:
“I wouldn’t say the word frustrating because I know how hard these guys work. I know how prepared they are. (Scott Fletcher) and (Greg Walker) do a terrific job preparing them. Sometimes they get you. We’ve been shut out seven times and it’s a team that shouldn’t be shut out because we are so talented offensively. You just have to keep going. We haven’t been able to put a decent run, a winning streak, because sometimes our offense stumbles on us. We still have a lot of games in front of us and we still have a chance to put a big number together.”
On seeing Iwakuma for the first time:
“I always feel like the pitcher has the advantage if you see him the first time. You can see all the videos you want and all the scouting reports that you want but until you face him you don’t see what he has. I feel like the pitcher always has the advantage if you see him 100 times if he hits his locations. You get those two things together like today and we didn’t look very well offensively.”
On a message to club on lack of hitting:
“I’m telling them right now. It’s not frustrating because you see them work, you see them prepare. It will click.”
MIKE MINOR
On how tough it is when offense is struggling, knowing small margin for error:
“It’s not that hard because I know that eventually they’ll score some runs and if I keep on doing my job then we’ll score runs and we’ll get some wins.”
On what was working best:
“Curveball mostly, I could throw it early and late.”
On if as well as he’s commanded curveball:
“Of the curveball yeah. Other stuff, I think early in the game I was kind of effectively wild. I was throwing a lot of two-seams that missed some bats and then I had that one inning when I couldn’t throw a pitch where I wanted to and they got that run.”
On if referring to 3-2 fastball to Gillespie:
“Yes, well there were a couple times to Gillespie that I couldn’t really throw, I was hanging changeups up and out of the zone for balls and I was giving in and throwing fastballs over the middle of the plate.”
On how extra movement on fastball affected other pitches:
“I don’t know if it was extra movement. It’s because sometimes it was straight and sometimes it moved, so I think it kept them off-balance just enough because it was around the strike zone. So they had to respect it, either to lay off of it or swing at it.”
CHRIS JOHNSON
On not getting Mike Minor run support:
“It stings offensively whenever that happens. We went up against a pretty tough guy today. He was definitely on his game. It stings a little bit but hopefully we can get him a win next time.”
On lack of offense:
“We can’t read too much into it and panic too much. We are still in first place. We have to keep grinding it out and hopefully it will turn around.”
On returning to Arizona:
“I wasn’t there too long. I was only there the second half of the season. For me it was kind of a pit stop. But I’m excited to see some of the guys over there. As far as playing over there, I will just go about my business.”
On whether the first time seeing Iwakuma had effect:
“It’s definitely tough, especially with a guy like him. He throws a lot of different pitches on both sides of the plate. It’s definitely tough because he doesn’t fall into too many patterns so it’s tough to go up there. I only got three at-bats against him today and I probably won’t get another the rest of the season. It’s definitely tough but you can’t take too much away from him. He’s pretty good.”
On whether pitcher has upper hand if he’s unfamiliar:
“I don’t like making too many excuses. He threw the ball over the plate and we didn’t hit it. I think that is the bottom line.”
