ST. LOUIS — Braves quotes from Ervin Santana, Chris Johnson and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Friday's 5-2 loss to the Cardinals.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Santana, did you think he’d get out of jam in fifth?
“Yeah, I had that feeling the whole time. He competes. He competes and gives you good pitches. I’ll look at the chart, but a couple of times when he got hit he was ahead in the count, 1-2 a couple of times on pitches that weren’t maybe located as well as he has (before). But he competes and any time he goes out there I feel he gives us a chance to win a ballgame.
“Lynn scattered eight hits. A couple of times we had people on base. I think we talked about it in the (pregame), it seems like we only get one guy hot, or maybe even two guys, but they’re so far apart in the lineup that we don’t get it going. I liked a couple of things, the way Thomas came in in that situation to face those left-handers, he did a nice job getting them out. So… we keep plugging away and hopefully those eight hits turn into some big runs here pretty soon.”
On Santana blowing pair of one-run leads immediately after getting them
“The shutdown innings, if we get one or two of those shutdown innings it’s a little different game, maybe it’s a 3-2 game, a 4-2 game. Those are the things that are so important over the course of the game, when your teams scores you’ve got to try to do your best – and it wasn’t like he wasn’t trying to do his best, just gave up a run. Right back at it. When you’re struggling scoring runs, you’ve got to get those shutdown innings. It’s really, really important to do it.”
On having some chances to get to Lynn
“I thought we had a few times. I thought Chris Johnson had some good at-bats, Jason had a good at-bat. I think B.J. hit a ball to right field and we manufacture a run there; it was on a double-play ball (by Simmons) but we score a run there. He held tough. His pitch count was really high going into the fourth inning, and all of a sudden he went out there and gave his team two more innings for them not to go into the bullpen that early in the game.”
Any concerns about the offense, anything you can do?
“What do you want me to do, hit the pitcher fourth? No, you know what, we’ve got a talented club. Teams go through this stuff. I don’t even know what our record is, but it’s above .500 obviously, and we haven’t even swung the bats like we’re capable of. And we just keep hanging around. Sooner or later we’ll start swinging like we’re capable. Last year there were a couple of times when we made a big run. I’m talking about a 10-game winning streak, a 12-game winning streak. We haven’t done that this year. The offense is what’s kind of keeping us from doing that. So I’m expecting any time for our club to get into one of those streaks.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
Had Lynn on the ropes a couple of times early?
“Yeah, we just couldn’t really come up with that big hit. They did a good job of doing what we didn’t – when they got guys on, they got some key hits, and it got them on the board.”
On not being used to Santana having a night like that
“Yeah, it’s a little different when he gives up some runs, because he’s been so good for us. But we knew at some point he was going to give up some runs. He’s allowed a tough start. So we’ll bounce back and try to take the last two.”
Lynn got more efficient later in the game, anything he did differently or your approach?
“I just think he settled in. He settled in, started making his pitches. I think we capitalized on some pitches early in the game that he kind of left out over the plate. And then towards that fourth, fifth, sixth inning, he settled in and really started hitting his spots, and throwing multiple pitches for strikes. It makes it tough that way.”
On the team’s lack of offense, not putting together a bunch of runs
“We’ve just got to keep going. It’s tough obviously. We’re frustrated. We want to put some crooked numbers up there. But can’t force it. Got to stay the course and keep working, and hopefully we can get going.”
**ERVIN SANTANA
One of those nights where you were kind of fighting it early on?
“Yeah, it was tough for me because I was fighting the whole game. I was behind in the count for the most part. I just did not execute a pitch.”
Frustrating falling behind in counts like that?
“It was. But at the same time I just take it like another outing and just get them next time.”
You’re going to have a bad start now and then, does it make it harder to take when team gives you lead like they did tonight couple times?
“It is a little bit frustrating, because every time we have the lead we have to put zeroes on the board. It’s frustrating, and that’s my fault.”
First loss in a long time, since 2013
“Well, yeah, but I was not thinking about it. Just trying to take one inning at a time, one pitch at a time, and just do my job.”
“It was tough.”
On losing some hitters after getting ahead in counts
“They’re very aggressive. Sometimes I got ahead two strikes and then just threw a pitch back to the middle. That was a mistake.”
On the two-out wild pitch that brought in a run, a bounced slider?
“Yeah, it was. Nobody’s perfect. Just trying to get people out.”
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