Quotes from Evan Gattis, Paul Maholm and manager Fredi Gonzalez following Wednesday's victory over the Twins at Turner Field.
EVAN GATTIS
On the grand slam at-bat:
“He missed outside with two sliders and then fastball on the outside corner that could have went either way. That might have changed the at-bat and then 3-0. I didn’t have the take sign. Just got enough of it.”
On if surprised to get green light:
“Maybe a little bit, with the bases loaded kind of . What is it 4-0 at the time. The game was still kind of tight. So yeah a little bit surpised.”
On if looking fastball:
“Always try to hit off the heater and adjust to anything else so yeah. I was definitely looking hard.”
On if thought it was going out:
“At first I did and then I didn’t know and then I did. When I hit it, I was like ‘Ooh yeah, it’s gone and then it was like maybe, not.’ It went out. It counts.”
On with bases loaded, pressure on pitcher:
“Yeah a little bit more to throw a strike. If he would have thrown those first two breaking balls for strikes, it might have been a completely different story but yeah I think once he falls behind in the count especially, knowing he’s got to throw at least a strike, whatever it is, yeah.”
On Fredi’s comment you lived in a van three years, baseball is fun:
“I think I’ve got a different perspective like if I’d been drafted out of high school and alls I’ve done is play baseball professionally I think it’d be a little bit different. But yeah I guess I’ve got a little bit different perspective on some things, a little bit. I’m still a baseball guy. I love to play but yeah maybe it makes 0-for-3s and stuff like that a little easier. Maybe.”
On not feel weight of the world when up at the plate:
“Yeah, even though I love it.”
On Gonzalez calling you a legend:
“Wow, that’s ridiculous.”
On getting recognized now at the grocery store:
“Yeah, a little bit. It’s kind of weird. Not used to that yet.”
On if this ride is one of the greatest experiences you’ve had:
“Yeah it is. Yeah, a ride, is the way I’m looking at it, definitely the time of my life. And a ride and I’m enjoying it. And it hasn’t sunk in yet. Just enjoying playing baseball every day.”
On going back into this part-time role:
“Going into spring training I could have gone into Double-A, Triple-A or the big leagues. I could have done a lot of things, so I wasn’t really expecting too much. So if you don’t expect anything you can’t be let down. So I’m just riding it out.”
On throwing away ball from Rasmus’ first strikeout:
“I threw it to some little girl in the stands. I don’t think she really wanted it. She didn’t even know what’s going on. So it’s all right.”
PAUL MAHOLM
On going back on the road after winning six in a row:
“Obviously we’ve been playing good. We came from behind a few times. Some huge home runs to tie it. Last night Freddie came through with a huge single to win. It was a little different of a homestand. We won every game but we had to scratch and claw and get some runs. I think it shows the character of the team. We can jump out ahead of some guys and put up some good ‘AB’s’. The starters did pretty good these couple series. We are going to look to get on the road and continue it.”
On his day:
“Pretty good. Wasn’t in great rhythm. I kind of struggled with my mechanics early on, but the guys put up some runs and I was able to get some outs and some defensive plays.”
On seeing how long he could go:
“He mentioned that I was going to be done after the seventh. I wanted to keep going. Last night, obviously with the rain delay, Huddy only went five. I wanted to go as deep as I possibly could to only give the bullpen one inning if possible. The two broken bat singles kind of ended for me, but I’m going to do everything I can to try to take care of the bullpen.”
On pitching different to go deeper into the game:
“Yes. I was just trying to throw sinkers and hit some ground balls. I was trying to work quick and get some quick innings. In like the fifth or sixth, I was kind of thinking I might be on pace to get threw nine, but they had some good ABs and I only ended up getting seven plus. For me, it was still mixing pitches and trying to attack the zone to get some quick outs.”
On saving Cory’s first strikeout ball:
“You know what, I was already thinking that Gattis was about to throw it into the stands, but I was trying to get down to the dugout and yell at him, but he’s a big caveman who doesn’t hear anything. Luckily we were able to save it and get the girl another ball.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On a pretty good ‘B’ team:
“That’s a good bench. Give Simmons a day off, bring Pena in there and he made a nice couple plays defensively. He gets a couple hits, a home run. It was a good thing. (Maholm) gave us a good opportunity to win the ball game and we kept adding on and putting numbers up. It was nice to see Cory (Rasmus) get his feet wet in the major leagues. A lot of good things happened today. Gattis with a grand slam—that’s the second time this year I’ve seen a 3-0 grand slam the opposite way for a right-handed hitter: (Miguel) Cabrera in Detroit and then (Gattis) here. We are not making any comparisons by any means but that’s the sign of a good hitter where he travels that ball and to have enough juice to hit it to the opposite field.”
On with the way Gattis has been swinging the bat, if any doubt you were going to give him the green light there:
“I like to give the hitters, especially those RBI situations, to swing the bat. We are not going to walk. Go get yourself four or at least a couple of them and he did it.”
On if would have sent Maholm up to hit late if would have done that if bullpen wasn’t a little bit short:
“He was OK. He was about 100 pitches into it. We tried to give him another inning or maybe a couple more outs. We played a lot of innings last night and we’ve been using our bullpen the last couple nights. So that was the thought, run him back out there and maybe get him through another inning and then Cody only had to pick up one.”
On pleased that starting rotation has picked up the slack:
“It’s good. They’ve been doing a nice job. But, for the most part, other than a couple stretches I can think of, they give us a good opportunity every time out. It’s nice to see. At the end of the year that’s what it’s going to be all about.”
On if beyond being surprised with anything Gattis does:
“No. It’s a legend. Good for him. The guys really rally around him and enjoy being around him. We’ve got to teach him some major league (customs). He threw Cory Rasmus’ first strikeout into the stands. We need to teach him a little bit more court awareness about things like that.”
On B.J. hitting the ball well lately:
“You see those at-bats get better and better and the swings are getting better. Walk and Fletch are working real hard with him and B.J. is working. You’ve got to give him some credit, too. He’s in there not getting frustrated. And he made a nice catch in right-center field to make the second out in the ninth inning.”
On if any change in his stance:
“They’ve been tinkering. It’s probably got a lot more to do with his leg kick, try to get his foot down quicker and get in hitting position. It’s little by little. When you try to make changes with major league hitters, it takes a little patience. It takes a little time for them to get it. And then you’ve got to ask them to produce a in the major leagues. So it’s tough at times.”
On nice to get day off before 20 games in a row:
“I don’t even want to think about that. We’ve played a lot of baseball here in less than 24 hours. So enjoy it, beat the traffic and get home and barbecue or something.”
- Quotes compiled by Carroll Rogers, Michael Cunningham and Marq Burnett
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