WASHINGTON — Braves quotes from Freddie Freeman, A.J. Pierzynski, Eric Stults and Fredi Gonzalez after Friday’s 9-2 loss to the Nationals.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On the loss
“I thought it was a really good baseball game, for about 6 ½ innings. Stultsy did a terrific job, gave us a really good opportunity to win a game, and they were able to add on. And the seventh inning and the eighth inning just really got away from us. But the first six innings, we’ll take it. We had some good at-bats against Gio, scored some runs, and he settled down and didn’t let us score any runs after the third or fourth inning. But Stults was terrific, Free is swinging a hot bat, just the last couple of innings, they got the home runs.”
On Harper’s five homers in two games
“He’s swinging. We talked about it (before game with reporters), he’s a special guy, special talent. This guy is growing up in the major leagues under a microscope. Shoot, I think he’s done a pretty job with it. I think going forward, maybe tomorrow we’ll tell him what’s coming, maybe we’ll get him out of his hot streak. I mean, that’s the only way you’re going to…you can tell from the dugout that his head’s not moving, he’s right there, he’s locked in.”
On Gio Gonzalez
“I’ve never seen him pitch other than like that. I’m sure there were some tough losses (in the 0-7 streak vs. Braves) or the bullpen gave it up for him or something. But he’s a guy that, even when you get him for four or five runs, goes deep in the game. So I was really surprised by those numbers (in his winless streak vs. Braves).”
On the bullpen
“You don’t want to give up six runs in the last two innings. But Cunniff got a ball that I didn’t think was going to be hit out. If I told you that I was expecting Perez to go out there and give you a 1-2-3 inning in his first outing in the major leagues, in front of a pretty nice Friday night crowd, against the Washington Nationals, I’d be reaching for it. But I didn’t expect him to walk a couple of guys, either. You know, I hope he learns that from that inning there, run him back out there in a couple of days and see what we’ve got.”
On Gosselin
“What a special player to have on the bench. Hasn’t had a start in 10 or 12 days and you start him and he gives you great at-bats. That’s great preparation on his part. We use the label ‘baseball player’ a lot, but this guy is a baseball player. You love to have him on your club.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On Gio Gonzalez
“He started off throwing 90-91 (mph), and as the innings went up he started throwing harder and hitting his spots a lot better. He settled down about the fourth or fifth inning and he didn’t miss a spot after those innings. He was tough tonight.”
On Stults being in a groove early
“Yeah, he was. He pitched great tonight. The pitch to Harper, I didn’t think that ball was going to go, and it just did. He kept us in the ballgame, unfortunately we didn’t get enough runs for him.”
We maybe seeing Bryce Harper coming into his own now?
“Yeah, he’s comfortable now, and he’s definitely showing it. Couple of mistakes tonight and he didn’t miss them.”
Five homers and 10 RBIs in two games for Harper, that’s a little ridiculous?
“That’s special. That’s a special month for a lot of people, and he’s done it in two days. Hopefully he stops in the next two days so we can get out here and get him out the next couple of days.”
**A.J. PIERZYNSKI
On Stults’ performance
“Both the guys that started today were pretty good. Stultsy had two mistakes, both with two strikes, both pitches up, both pitches end up out of the park. And it kind of got away from us real quick. But he threw the ball well and deserved a better result.”
On Harper’s two-homer night, five homers in past two games
“I thought we made good pitches on him his first couple of at-bats, then made a couple of mistakes. Young kid came in and threw one right down the middle to him after being all over the place the first two hitters. But he’s a good player and took advantage of mistakes and hit home runs.”
On environment for Perez to debut
“You’ve got to throw them in at some point, you’ve got to pitch them. So these guys need to grow up quickly and find a way to throw it over the plate and get guys out. We’ve got some guys who’ve proven they can do it, and we’re still searching for some other guys.”
**ERIC STULTS
On the loss and his performance
“Well, the results weren’t quite what I would’ve hoped they would’ve went. But I felt like overall I made pitches, but there were a few that I kind of left up in the zone and they came back and got me. Overall I threw alright, but it’s disappointing not to get a win.”
On Bryce Harper
“He’s swinging well. This is a streaky team. They have a lot of guys that can do some damage, and when they’re hot they can do some damage in a hurry. We saw that tonight, especially late in the game. But it’s just one of those where you’ve got to execute pitches, and if you don’t it’s going to come back to hurt you.”
Did you make good pitches to him?
“The last one (the two-run homer) was not a good pitch. A fastball, it was just elevated. That’s kind of his swing path; if you put it in there, he’s going to hit it. Give him credit, he’s swinging it well, and I just didn’t execute a pitch.”
On 2-0 lead vs. this team not safe
“Like I said, they’re hot right now. They’re swinging the bat well. So you just give them a lot of credit. They’re not missing many pitches, and they’re a team that can do some damage. They’ve got some guys who can drive the ball. It’s just a matter of trying to execute pitches, and tonight we just didn’t do enough of it.”
