**FREDI GONZALEZ
On uncharacteristic night for bullpen
“Usually you give our guys the lead, they’re going to shut it down, and they end up getting four runs out of our bullpen from the eighth inning on. That doesn’t usually happen to our guys.
“We had some opportunities. We had the right guy with the right situation, we just didn’t convert. That 10th inning got a little crazy with two quick outs and then we walk a guy, hit a guy that was buried in the count — it was 0-2 or 1-2 — and then give up two 0-2 hits that beat us. They stuck their nose in there on those pitches and got base hits.”
On the emotional swing from Gattis home run between the blown saves
“It was a roller coaster, really. And you forget about how well Mike Minor pitched because of everything that happened in the last four innings. But Mike did a nice job, giving up three runs early in the game and stayed in there and kept battling and gave us an opportunity. Only gave up three runs the whole night.”
On thinking when Mets manager sends Parnell to hit for himself in 10th
“I was thinking that he may take a shot at him because he’s got nothing to lose really. And if you threw (runner stealing second base out with Parnell hitting), Parnell stays in the game and pitches. If you don’t throw him out, it’s up to him to decide whether he wants to have Parnell in the game or pinch hit Baxter, which he did. I thought we had a good chance to throw him out. I don’t know how close it was on video but on the field it was a pretty good bang-bang (play).”
On Walden, adding to frustration with count being 0-2 on tie-breaking RBI single
“It was a bunch of guys there in the last inning that went 0-2, 1-2 and we just couldn’t make the pitch. I think Avilan had Murphy 0-2 also.”
On Wright missing two Kimbrel fastballs, then crushing one
“I think the location wasn’t what Craig wanted. He’s pretty darn good. You can’t miss your location with him no matter how fast you throw.”
On Schafer’s four walks
“Schafer did a nice job. He got on base every single time. He just couldn’t get that last flyball deep enough to win the ball game. I like our at-bats today. Our hitters and we did something we haven’t done in a long time with our bullpen.”
On importance of Pena, who came through again after replacing Francisco
“He’s great. To have him coming off the bench — I think he ended up getting three hits, with Francisco rolling his ankle. And (Francisco) is going to be OK. I think he’s going to be day to day with that.
“(Pena) gives you a great option. He can play third base, he can play short, he can play second. And against a right-handed pitcher he gives you good at-bats.”
On Francisco looking worse than it was
“I think so. After Lovey (trainer Jim Lovell) examined him a little bit. He was able to walk off under his own power which is always a good thing. We’ll re-evaluate him tomorrow and see where he’s at. But I don’t see him being a DL candidate or anything like that.”
Reason for Minor coming out after 90 pitches, after retiring the last 18?
“We pinch hit for him.”
Pastornicky pinch-hit for him and bunted, which Minor had done earlier
“Yeah, but you go 0-2 (count to Minor if he stayed in) or something, then all of a sudden…”
(In other words, he wanted to have a legit hitter up there in case early bunt attempts failed.)
**MIKE MINOR
On his turnaround after leadoff homer in 2nd inning
“I just threw a bunch of fastballs, worked in and out. I didn’t throw a whole lot of off-speed after the second inning.”
Particularly tough loss?
“Yeah, just because we were up, and then we go back down, and they tie it or whatever. Part of that’s my fault for giving up two runs early on. We would’ve never been in that situation if it wasn’t for me.”
On shaking off the two homers early
“I feel like it was the same thing as last year, when I’d give up home runs like that. I just had to battle through the whole game. And that’s what I tried to tell myself this time. Roger told me there was a lot of game left. I couldn’t just let the team down and give up out there. It was only the second inning, so I just tried to battle through it.”
**CRAIG KIMBREL
On the usually steady bullpen blowing leads tonight
“We’ve been good so far this year, until tonight. Our offense went out there and did what they had to do. They scored when we needed to score, and we just weren’t able to hold it down. We kind of let this one slip away. It’s a tough one because you want to win the first one of any series, and we had plenty of opportunities to do it. Our bullpen just couldn’t hold it down tonight.”
Mistake to Wright that maybe you could get away with against lesser hitter?
“Yeah, he’s definitely a guy you can’t make a mistake to, especially up in the zone with a fastball. On a night like tonight, as well. He hit that good. You can’t make mistakes to him, and I did. And that was the difference in the ballgame.”
“It’s frustrating when you feel like you’re pitching well on a certain night and you still get beat, because you make a mistake. That’s a mistake that could’ve been avoided, but I didn’t do it, and I paid for it.”
**JORDAN WALDEN
On being ahead in count 0-2 with two outs on Tejada’s RBI single in 10th
“It’s frustrating. I get him 0-2 and I hang a slider to him. Bad pitch. Live to play tomorrow.”
On being ahead 0-2 or 1-2 to each of the last three batters he faced with two outs
“I don’t know, I couldn’t put them away.”
On facing reliever Parnell, getting first-pitch strike on him, then Baxter coming in
“That’s the first time I’ve ever seen that, but I knew what they were thinking. There was nothing I could do about it. Once he stole (on the first pitch to Parnell) I said, OK, it makes sense now.”
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