ALEX WOOD
On how good that felt:
“It felt good to be back out there and be back on the mound with these guys. I was able to go long enough where I didn’t wear the bullpen down and fortunately I was able to go as deep as I could.”
On not a lot of stressful innings:
“They’re a pretty aggressive lineup, and so any time you get a lineup like that that’s aggressive as they were, it’s about execution so you’ve got to make good pitches and not make too many mistakes and fortunately I was able to do that tonight.”
On having good fastball command to go with good offspeed:
“It helped I had all three going tonight too for the most part. That was definitely a plus, and it was a good start back for sure.”
On if secondary pitches were this good on starts down in Triple-A or did it all come together tonight:
“It all kind of came together. The biggest thing for me was getting my changeup back. I thought it was probably the best it’s been all year and also just getting my rhythm back, my mechanics, and really my fastball command. I felt really good tonight and hopefully I’ll build off of tonight.”
On if surprised by how sharp it was given adrenaline:
“I wouldn’t say surprised. That’s what I try to do every time I go out. I thought me and Gatty had a good plan going in and we were able to execute it pretty well. They made a lot of early contact and hit some balls right at guys and it ended up working out pretty good.”
On being back in his competitive comfort zone, in a big league start again:
“I watched every game while I was down there, and it’s something I really enjoy and don’t take it for granted at all being a part of this club. I think we can really do some good things and hopefully we’ll continue to play well for the rest of this road trip and carry it over to when we get back home.”
On if got a good look at Justin’s homer:
“Yeah I was watching in the dugout. I just said (to Gattis) ‘Put it in the bleachers’ a couple pitches before and then he went and did it, so I was pretty excited about it. That was a big home run for sure. 1-0 ballgame, anything can happen, especially on the road.”
On if felt like now you understand why the move down happened:
“Yeah, big picture, I think it was probably good for me to go down there and stretch out and kind of get a feel for everything again. At the same time, it’s hard because I think no matter what the situation is when you go down for however long it is, it’s one of those things where when you come back, it’s like you have to prove yourself all over again. At least that’s the way I look at it. So I think that’s the toughest part. It’s always like ‘what have you done for me lately.’ You’ve been in the minor leagues. You haven’t done anything lately up here. It’s one of those things where you have to come back up and you have to go and you have to perform and then hopefully you string a few good ones together and in baseball you’re going to go out there and have a battle every now and then. It’s about damage control. This is one of those things where it’s a good building block for me to have a good start my first one back and just continue to build off that.”
JUSTIN UPTON
On good at-bats all night:
“Just seeing the ball and hitting it. That’s about it. I got some good pitches to hit and I put good swings on them.”
On if it feels as good to hit one to opposite field as the one night before to left:
“No. Last night’s felt a little bit better, but I still squared that one up tonight too. Both pretty good swings.”
On Wood coming back, showing no rust:
“He filled up the zone and made pitches when he needed to, got out of some situations so he did a great job. He’s one of those guys we can count on when he takes the ball.”
On three RBIs, sliding catch:
“Yeah. You’d think I can just get an ice cream cone or something (laughing.) They’ve got some good ice cream in there, as least get a scoop of ice cream.”
On losing Floyd and having Wood do what he did six days later:
“He did a great job, when we needed it. Gavin was pitching well for us. To not miss a beat with Alex coming back is definitely a luxury to have him waiting in the wings and come back and pitch for us. We’re going to need him to come up big for us because we have a tough stretch coming up.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On Wood doing everything you could want:
“And more. His pitch count was perfect. The ups and downs is what we were worried about. The most he’s gotten up is five innings. So he went seven. He did a nice job, mixed all his pitches, like we talked about before the game, his breaking ball, his fastball, threw some nice changeups. We did something today offensively. We got to tip our hats to these guys here. We did a good job situational hitting today. We got the runners in when we had to. The last add-on run there with Tommy and B.J. at third there at third base. Nice going for us. Justin with the sac fly early in the game and then the two-run homer.”
On not a lot of stressful innings for Wood:
“He didn’t and it was nice running him down there and wanting to get him at least three or four starts, not two, but I think it’s nice that we did that because he was able to come in and give us a spot start – stay in the rotation – Gavin is out and give us a good opportunity to win a game every fifth day.”
On Freeman:
“I think we dodged a bullet. I took him out of the game because I just wanted to get ice on him right away. He’s going to see the Astros doctor. I don’t think anything is going to materialize, hopefully we got him out of there early enough and put ice on him early enough that he could play tomorrow.”
On if Jeff Porter said he had some flexibility:
“It hit him right there in the funny bone, and it goes numb. I think he had the same feeling in St. Louis when he got hit there. He said same place but it feels worse. Hopefully he’s not feeling it and we can get him out there tomorrow.”
On if can see these surges coming with Justin Upton:
“I’m going to need one of those dogs that can tell when something is coming, with him, so i can…because when he gets hot like this it’s really, really something to watch and hopefully this is the beginning of one of those big runs he can give us.”
On early impression of Juan Jaime:
“The thing about him is he scatters it around a little bit but so far, knock on wood, he throws it over the plate. That’s a good sign.”
On if most pleased with Wood’s efficiency:
“That and also mixing up his pitches, his breaking ball, his changeups were outstanding and to give us around 80 pitches, seven innings, you can’t ask for anything more.”
On losing Floyd and having someone like Wood to put in:
“Well, I don’t want to keep reaching down in the depth. We’ve already had a lot of significant injuries in our starting rotation. I don’t want to keep going down and figure out who we’ve got next. It was nice to have a little bit of starting pitching depth and hopefully now we don’t have to keep going down there.”
