WASHINGTON — Braves quotes from Ryan Buchter, Freddie Freeman, Mike Minor, Craig Kimbrel, Andrelton Simmons and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Friday's 13-inning win against the Nationals.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On relievers Buchter and Jaime impressing with scoreless inning apiece in their MLB debuts
“Those are big innings. We always talk when we bring them up about how you’re going to use them, what situation. Today was extra-inning games against your division rival, in a tough ballgame. You’re going to have to use them sooner or later. Get them in their as soon as you can so they don’t have to sit around thinking about it. And both of those kids did a nice job. Jaime, that big arm coming out of the bullpen – that’s nice to see. And Buck (Buchter) did a nice job. They did a terrific job.”
Did you know Jaime had that curveball to go with 99 mph (fastball)?
“I knew 98-99, and I think (Triple-A pitching coach) Marty Reed and Snit (Triple-A manager Brian Snitker) – we’ve seen reports on the curveball, and those two guys have done a terrific job developing this kid, running him out there in closing situations, tough situations in Triple-A.”
On Minor’s performance
“You can’t ask for anything more than that. Ninety-nine percent of the time he gets a W there (with that performance). He didn’t get the W but I’m pleased with his performance. I’m pleased with the offense. Those guys in the middle of the lineup have kept the line moving.”
More on Buchter and Jaime in their debuts vs. division rival in tie game
“I’m always a positive guy. You don’t want to complain of feel sorry for yourself when you have injuries, because I always think, hey, you may see somebody that you like that you wouldn’t have had the opportunity to see. These two gentlemen here got the opportunity because of injuries we’ve had. Now who knows, we’ve seen them in the big leagues and we’ll keep running them out there in certain situations and see what we’ve got.”
Being careful with Shae Simmons tonight because of heavy workload lately?
“Yeah, both him and David (Hale). And we really wanted to stay off of Walden, too. That’s why Varvaro pitched in the eighth inning; he did a terrific job, too. Those two guys, David and Simmons, will be available tomorrow.”
On Freeman being in the middle of things tonight
“Freeman, Gattis, Heyward, Chris Johnson… I thought Simmons had some of the best at-bats I’ve seen him have in a long time. That’s a really formidable middle of the lineup that we’ve got going right now.”
**MIKE MINOR
On outpitching Strasburg and getting 11 strikeouts in 7 innings
“I think it was one of my best, feeling-wise. Just mechanically, I felt like everything was mechanically sound and I could throw pretty much any pitch any time.”
On staying confident after giving up 11 hits in each of his past two starts
“Yeah, because I felt good, I felt a lot better than what the outcome was. So there was nothing in my head about, oh, the last two outings, I need to bounce back. I felt good.”
More satisfying to come out and do it at Washington?
“Yeah, to the Nationals, it feels good because we’re in that race right now. It’s always good to get a win against the Nationals.”
On their 7-1 record vs. Nats this season, 24-7 past 31 games
“It’s always close, but we seem to come out ahead every time. I just think it’s two good teams going at it. We just happen to be better those days.”
On 11 K’s, what was working for those strikeouts?
“Everything. I think I got a strikeout with every pitch. Maybe not the changeup, but every other pitch I felt like I had strikeouts on, so I felt like I could throw it any time.”
On the two rookie relievers pitching so well in debuts
“To be your debut, tie ballgame, and go out there and shove like that, it really means a lot. It shows their character.”
**RYAN BUCHTER
Did your family members get here?
“Yeah, I saw my grandfather, I saw everybody showed up today. So it was good to see. It was good that they were here.”
Surprised that Fredi called on you in that situation? After Juan Jaime in the inning before?
“You’ve got to test it out sometime, you know? Good chance, good experience for me, and good for him to see what I can do.”
Struck out Werth on 3 pitches to start the inning, then walked LaRoche on 4
“Yeah, I said to Eddie (Perez) when I came in, I got my first walk tonight.” (Laughter) “It happens.”
On how it feels
“Good. Of course it feels good.”
You still feeling adrenaline?
“Not really. It’s baseball. Once you get out there — the experience in spring training helps. I didn’t get the September callup last year, but the last two spring trainings I was there facing all those guys. Every time I faced the Nationals I faced 3, 4 and 5 (in their lineup) every time. Every time I faced the Marlins I faced 3, 4 and 5. So, just that experience – it’s the same game, you’ve just got to go out there and throw.”
You even think about Nats being your original organization, the one that drafted you?
“Yeah, kind of because Bobby Henley on third base (coach) was my first manager. (First base coach) Tony Tarasco was a hitting coach on the team. Sandy Leon… there’s a couple of guys over there (still around). It’s kind of nice to see a familiar face and go out there and pitch against them.”
What time did you arrive?
“3:15 or 3:20 I showed up in the clubhouse for 3:30 stretch.” (Ervin Santana dressing at next locker over heard that and said so reporters could hear, “He was late.” There was laughter.)
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On going to 13 innings again for third time in a week, and winning this time
“You don’t see Craig blowing a save very often, but he’s human. We know he’s going to be back doing what he normally does. But the new guys (relievers debuting) pitched great. Kept us in and gave us the opportunity (to win). We found a way to do it.”
On grinding out at-bats against Strasburg, getting is pitch count up
“Somehow we always put up good at-bats against the Nationals. I don’t know why, but we get locked in a little bit. And hopefully we keep doing it whenever we’re playing division teams.”
On winning first two here after falling 1 ½ games behind Nationals before this series
“We’re struggling a little bit (lately), but we know we play well against them. We came with some confidence, and you could see it. Guys were grinding out at-bats and coming up with big hits. Pitchers kept us in the game. And we ended up winning.”
On Jaime’s big arm
“He was fun to watch. He was throwing really, really hard. The first curveball he threw, he froze me playing short. I was like, ‘whoa!’ It was pretty impressive. Hopefully he keeps it going.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On Braves’ third 13-inning game of the week
“It doesn’t matter how long it is as long as we win. We’ve played some long games the last week, so it’s definitely taxing our bullpen. But a win’s a win, and if it had taken 20 innings we would have done it.”
On the rookie relievers in their debuts
“Unbelievable. I knew Jaime threw hard, and then he came in with that 73-mile-an-hour curveball. It surprised me, too. But the both pitched great. Ryan walked one guy but he got the big double play. Just got the ground ball when he needed to. Awesome job by him.”
On grinding out long at-bats against Strasburg
“Yeah, we got his pitch count up. When a guy throws hard like that you’re not going to always square up balls; you’re going to foul a lot of balls off and not be able to catch up sometime. For him it’s like a plus and minus kind of thing, because if you make contact early he can keep his pitch count down. But when you throw so hard and have so many different pitches, we’re just up there battling, just fouling things off. We had a couple of 0-2 hits that he probably he wishes he could have those pitches back. When he made a mistake we were able to hit it today.”
On Minor
“Minor was awesome. He had that front-door two-seamer working, he was freezing right-handers. Back-door cutters. He was commanding both sides of the plate. He was awesome.”
**CRAIG KIMBREL
On getting behind in counts, giving up homer to Rendon on 2-1 fastball (98 mph)
“Anytime you pitch from behind it’s tough. In that situation I was behind, so I was going to challenge him with my best fastball. And he beat me. That’s a good piece of hitting. Obviously you don’t want to start the inning with a leadoff walk. But in that situation I just challenged (Rendon) and he hit it out.”
“Mike pitched a heckuva game. I think our bullpen looked great tonight, especially those two guys in their debuts coming in in extra innings to keep the game where it is just long enough to where we can get guys up and on and score a run. It’s a big win for us.”
On the rookies thrown into fire in their debuts
“You know what, that’s how you learn. You get in there and you get your opportunity and you get to show what you’re capable of. They definitely did that tonight. They’re fun to watch. I’m really going to be excited to see how they help our team down the stretch, because they did a really good job tonight.”
On Jaime’s big arm
“I think he was holding back tonight. I think he was trying to throw strikes. Wait till he feels a little comfortable out there, he’ll be lighting up the radar gun.”
On his own recent rough outings
“It’s been a little bit up and down. I’m pitching really good one game and then giving up some runs in another game. But that’s part of baseball. Baseball is a game of scoring runs. It’s unfortunate that I’ve given up a few in big situations in the last few weeks, but we’ve still got a lot of season left to play and I’ve still got a lot of pitching to do. So I’m just going to put this night behind me and be ready to go tomorrow.”
