MIAMI — Braves quotes from Aaron Harang, Fredi Gonzalez and Jason Heyward after Friday’s 11-3 loss to the Marlins.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On bad start to the road trip
“I hope the Marlins got all their hits out of the way. We left a lot of pitches over the middle of the plate. And they capitalized. I thought we hit some balls hard. Justin hit about 800 feet of fly balls to straightaway center. I thought C.J. had some good at-bats. We just left too many – they barreled too many balls. And they did it with people on base.”
If Harang’s not on his game, at this point in his career can this kind of game happen easily?
“I haven’t seen it, other than the last maybe two or three starts. Because he usually is able to maneuver through the lineup. It just looked like everything kept coming back over the middle of the plate. We’ll go get ‘em tomorrow.”
On Cosart’s impressive first six starts since being traded to Marlins
“This is the second start we’ve seen him in six days, and at least both of his starts (against the Braves) he’s thrown everything for a strike, all his pitches. He’s got a cutter that goes away from right-handed hitters, and you can’t barrel it. And he competes. He’s been pretty impressive the last two starts.”
On leaving Harang in after getting lit up through three innings (down 4-0 at that point)
“It was 4-nothing, then it became 6-nothing in the fourth when we went and got him. No, I wasn’t trying to leave him in or take him out too early, I was just trying to get him through the baseball game.”
**AARON HARANG
On how he felt tonight
“Warming up for the game I felt awesome, like I couldn’t miss a pitch. Ask any other pitcher, those are the nights you’ve got to bite your lip and bear down and get through it. Today happened to be one of those games. So, I’ve just got to forget about it and prepare for the next one, and finish out the season strong.”
On having a couple of real good starts vs. Marlins and a couple of really bad ones here; just coincidence?
“I mean, it’s kind of coincidence. The first one here was rough. The second one here was better. And obviously today wasn’t great. You just take your tough-luck losses and forget about it and move on to the next one.”
Anything in particular not working early on?
“Everything. I felt like I’d throw a good slider and it’d be just off the plate. So I’m make adjustment and throw another and catch a little too much of the plate and get hit. Just one of those days. You throw a fastball that’s in, so you try to make the adjustment and the next pitch ends up being over the middle of the plate.
“Obviously falling behind (in counts) wasn’t helping, because you have to come back and throw a strike, and the hitters can be more selective.”
On their hitters
“Yelich did a good job hitting a sinker away, hitting it down the left-field line. And then obviously I don’t know how to get Solano out. I should go and ask him how to get him out, because it’s ridiculous the way he’s hitting off me the last couple of games. Getting those two guys on, I got Stanton, had a decent track record with McGehee, just wasn’t able to get out of it. It happens. You can’t be perfect all the time, and when you try to be too perfect that’s when you make mistakes and balls get hit.”
On whether team can just put a loss like this behind it and move forward, after going through what Braves did recently
“We had a few games last week that were tough. We had a good win the other day, obviously a much-needed off day. But then to come back and have this happen definitely leaves a little sour taste in your mouth. But we’ve just got to forget about it and come back and go get them tomorrow. We’ve got Woody on the mound and he’s thrown well against them. I think we have a good shot.”
**JASON HEYWARD
On Cosart being real tough in his six starts since being traded from Astros
“Absolutely. Obviously his numbers are showing it, for sure. I feel like he was better in Atlanta (last week) than he was tonight. He was able to get a cushion early and for a guy with his stuff, it’s not hard to get in a groove. No offense, but tonight was one of those nights where he was able to get a lead early and settle in.”
On Cosart’s stellar cut fastball
“I would say that’s all he does. But tonight he tried to be more efficient with off-speed stuff, use fastballs when he needed it. He was able to do it. Again, when you have good stuff lke that and you get a lead early, it’s definitely a lot more comforting than trying to keep it close.”
Just one of those nights where your guy gave up a lot of runs early and their guy exploited it?
“It’s always one of those nights. That’s part of the game. It’s just unfortunate that it came at an opportunity where we’re trying to play into the playoffs. And that’s part of it. It’s definitely part of the game. Nothing out of the ordinary, it happens. You give teams big leads. Teams don’t play well one night or whatever. Again, you want to play well, you want to make everything count right now, and that’s what we need to do. Tonight’s over with, so tomorrow’s another day, and that’s all we can control right now.”
