Braves postgame quotes after Wednesday’s win

Clubhouse quotes from Tyler Pastornicky, Brandon Beachy, Jason Heyward and manager Fredi Gonzalez following the Braves' 6-3 victory over the Phillies Wednesday.

TYLER PASTORNICKY

On the collision:

“I didn’t really know what happened because I was trying to catch the ball and it all happened so fast. I think the brunt of him was him – I don’t know if it was his knee – it got me pretty good in the back of the leg and it moved it around pretty good.”

On if heard Heyward coming:

“I heard nothing. It’s one of those converging plays. I tried to yell as loud as I could but I think he was running in and kind of met at the same time.”

On what he’s hoping to hear Thursday:

“All the news I’ve heard so far is good. Hopefully continue to stick with that. Whatever comes on the MRI but hopefully I’ll be all right. Day to day kind of deal and see what happens on the MRI tomorrow but hopefully everything will be good.”

On if early indications were that it was good structurally:

“They did all the tests on it and the tests all came out all right but still do the MRI tomorrow and see where it goes from there.”

On if could have worse luck, second day back in majors:

“I’ve been asking myself that question here for a couple minutes but I think it’s just part of the game. Hopefully everything’s all right and continue to stay rolling and use the off day as a rest day.”

On what he had on his knee:

“I got a wrap and I have one of those things that spreads out the bruise (compressor). Right now what hurts more is where I got hit, just kind of a knee to the back of the calf is never a good thing, especially when that’s a pretty big boy.”

On counting himself lucky after seeing replay:

“I’ve tried not to see the replay yet. I’m sure my friends will all send it to me but I heard it looked pretty bad.”

On if tightened up on him:

“Yeah it locked up on me. I try to think I’m pretty tough but it locked up pretty good to where I couldn’t even really move on it. Coming off the field it started locking up. Pretty much time to come out then.”

BRANDON BEACHY

On building on his last outing:

“Yeah I guess in a way. I didn’t give up any runs in the first few innings, so that’s continuing that. Yeah I felt pretty good early, mixed things up, re-introduced the slider a little bit, made it something they had to at least respect.”

On progress over past two weeks, happy in direction he’s going:

“Yeah definitely. Each time I felt like I’ve moved a little bit in the right direction. Coming off that first one just to put some zeros on the board over the next few and now I’m feeling like I’m starting to work on sequences and throwing pitches, breaking balls for strikes and things like that. Hopefully I’ll keep moving in that direction.”

On wanting to get slider back in tonight:

“Yeah obviously I’m a better pitcher when I have it. I’m a better pitcher when I can throw my curveball for strikes and when my change-up is good. When I can have all four of those effective and they have to think about them, all that does I make my fastball better, so I can get away with more.”

On Fredi saying coming out one way or another after sixth, if felt gassed:

“No I didn’t feel gassed. I understand what it is, it’s coming off of a surgery. I’m not going to complain about them trying to protect me, especially with the fortunate position that we’re in with the lead in the division. I’m not going to be upset about that.”

On first slider to Young, felt a little more normal:

“Yeah I guess. It’s still something I’m going to have to work at to find a feel for it and really be confident with it but definitely my focus is different now on that pitch. Not trying to make the perfect pitch with it, it’s about finishing it. If I throw it in the dirt, I’m fine with that. I want to keep it down whether it’s effective or not, if I can keep it down, it’s still going to be something they’re going to have to think about.”

On if fastball was coming out like it has been, velocity:

“I don’t know. I don’t pay attention to velocity. I gave up a homer there on a fastball but that’s a 2-0 pitch I threw right down the middle. I obviously know what the velocity was. They weren’t hitting my fastball like it was too slow or anything like that. So I’m fine with it.”

JASON HEYWARD

On the leadoff homer:

“It’s nice to put a run up early, to give Beachy a lead and let him do what he did – he threw really well tonight. He and Gat were on the same page, played some more good D, some guys filling in, good series win.”

On what first leadoff homer of career felt like:

“I don’t know. I don’t even realize I’m hitting leadoff right now, I’m just playing baseball and trying to do it well, trying to do it smart and keep progressing, keep getting better situations, and keep getting good pitches to hit and not miss those.”

On his vantage point on the collision:

“I called it really really early. Sometimes the crowd gets in the way of that when somebody is going hard but I feel like a lot of people me. I even heard some people in the dugout say they heard me as well. Tyler was going after it. Apparently he was calling it too so. It just happens sometimes. Unfortunately he had to come out of the game.”

On if called it all the way to him:

“I called it all the way. I called it early. I was saying ‘Hey, I got it. Guys take it easy.’ But he kept going. Good hustle.”

On the job Beachy has done last couple of starts:

“Awesome. He’s trying to settle in. He’ll tell you he’s not feeling great out there but we’ve seen him when he’s on but he’s working hard and having some fun. It’s been a pleasure playing behind him and seeing him back out there. I’m happy for him.”

On him commanding pitches, giving the ups and downs of how he may feel:

“It’s not easy. He’s trying to go back out there and spot up, not fall behind guys, still be aggressive. And he’s doing that without having his consistent velocity but tonight I saw 93 from him, haven’t seen that yet, so that’s good there. And his breaking ball looked a lot better. His slider looked a little bit more sharp. And the change-up has been awesome since he’s been back. Just him getting back into a zone and not worry so much about the elbow and just go out there and pitch. It’s fun to watch.”

On this adversity that pops up, still winning:

“I feel like it’s happened from the beginning for us this year. Me personally, as a group, everybody, BMac not being here, us all trying to get on the same page, trying to overcome situational hitting, trying to put the ball in play, things like that. We’ve overcome it. We’ve had a lot of fun. We’ve taken on all the challenges this year. It’s all a part of the game but I’m really proud of the fact that we’ve come to the field every day, put the last day behind us and showed up expecting to win that game and trying to give ourselves chances to win. We don’t slack off a lot on defense, which is great, and get situational hitting from the guys we can lead on – C.J. and Freddie – that’s been awesome, Justin in April for us and coming back end of July and this month has been awesome. We know we can’t always count on the big homers and the big games from guys. We’ve been able to win some games close and late as well.”

On Nationals winning five in a row and still being 14 games down:

“It’s tough. We know what that feels like. That’s why we’re doing our best to not let it have to come down to the end.”

FREDI GONZALEZ

On more progress for Beachy:

“I think so. If you talk to him, he’s going to tell you he didn’t pitch real well but I thought he did a nice job under the conditions – a two-hour rain delay. He was on base when Lannan went on and they had to warm up the new pitcher but I thought he did a nice job. He would have come out whether he gave up the two-run homer or not. Roger and I had already made up our mind that that was enough. The outing before eight innings and this one went long, the delay and everything else was good enough. I think he gets an extra two days before his next start. I think if anybody in our rotation needed it right now, it would be him.”

On another big two-out hit from Chris Johnson:

“He does it. He comes up big and good for us, good for him. I thought Janish was outstanding today at second base, making some great defensive plays. But we’ve seen him. That’s what he does. He’s a winner. And the big sac fly, and the base hit, so it was nice to run him in there and get him four at-bats and he contributes. Those guys are winning players on winning clubs.”

On if knows severity of Pastornicky’s injury:

“No. He got clipped there a little bit by Jason there, I’m sure he’s pretty fortunate right now because that’s a bad match-up for him. 6-5 compared to 5-10. They’re calling it a sprained knee. He got hit in the lower calf or leg area also. Day to day. Hopefully with the off day he can bounce back.”

On Heyward making you look good for putting him in the leadoff spot:

“Well maybe I’m kinda dumb for waiting this long. Have you ever thought that way? I’m sure there are people out there that are like ‘Why’d you wait so long to do this?’ It was just not him. Like we’ve always talked, it was just a matter of all those other components to that move, it was easy to make.”

On him becoming comfortable in that spot in a hurry:

“I think going into it before that it was only one at-bat in the leadoff spot before this year. But like we’ve said, he hit No. 3 for most of the year last year and had a good year so I think he does his approach and it doesn’t matter what spot in the lineup.”

On if Heyward kept up the yelling as he got close to Pastornicky:

“From my perspective and on the field it was almost as soon as that ball left the bat, Jason was calling for it and calling it loud. We were all on the field level and you could hear it clearly that Jason was calling for that ball. I don’t know if Tyler didn’t hear him or he was so locked in on that fly ball that he didn’t feel Jason coming in.”

On if knee tightened up between innings: