Quotes from pitcher Julio Teheran, manager Fredi Gonzalez and others following the Braves' 3-0 victory over the Diamondbacks Friday at Turner Field.
** JULIO TEHERAN
On the game, facing his friend Delgado
“I was excited to pitch against one of my best friends, and to pitch on Chipper Jones’ day.”
On Delgado
“Since the minor leagues we’ve been together, but I wasn’t trying to think about that. I was trying to treat the game like any other, trying to compete and do my best.”
On recent strikeout totals going up
“I’m feeling like every time I get somebody with two strikes, I can make one pitch and get a strikeout. If I don’t strike him out, just get an out.”
Using a lot of different pitches to strike guys out
“I’ve got more confidence in all my pitches, so I feel like I can throw them any time.”
You looked like you got stronger as the game went on
“I was getting more confidence. The first three innings were a little difficult. I was sweating a lot. But at the end, the last inning, I was trying to get 10 K’s – Chipper Jones’ number.”
Feeling as confident as you did in spring training again?
“Yes, I’m trying to do the same thing I did in spring training. And I have more confidence in my changeup that I didn’t use in spring training. I have all my best stuff now.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Teheran
“He made some nice pitches when he had to. He did a great job. He gave us a great opportunity to win tonight’s game.”
Seeemed like he got stronger as game went along
“Well I think his breaking pitches were a lot better, a lot sharper as the game went on. We made some nice plays defensively and even swinging the bat you felt pretty good that he was going to do something with the bases loaded. He hit a sharp groundball to Goldschmidt. It was a good overall night on a very, very memorable night with Chipper’s number getting retired. We played good baseball, ran the bases well, executed some things offensively. Hope it carries on the rest of the weekend.”
On bullpen doing the job again
“They do. You mix and match there with Avi and Walden, and you give the ball to Kimbrel and you feel pretty good that you’ve got a good chance to win the game.”
On the play Janish made in ninth
“Jani, he might be the all-time best defender I’ve ever been around, and multiple positions. We saw it last year longterm at shortstop and we asked him when we brought him up ‘Can you play third base?’ and he goes ‘Yeah I’ll go over there.’ He’s played a little bit of it but he’s terrific. In the boxscore it’s a groundball to the third baseman but it was much more difficult than that. Instead of being one out nobody on, it’s a double down the line. He gives us that opportunity to defend for anybody we want to on the infield.”
On if done more safety/suicide bunts this year than he’s ever done:
“I don’t know. Talk to the some of the SABR guys, I safety squeeze too much. But I tell you what, that was textbook by Reed Johnson. If you execute it like we did there you can’t defend it. Reed did a nice job coming off the bench against a guy who’s throwing pretty good sinkers and getting the job done.”
On seeing similar things with Teheran developing start-to-start as did with Mike Minor late last season
“I think so. I think you’re seeing a young man that just keeps maturing every start he gets in the big leagues.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On playing against Dbacks and Gregorius (from Netherlands team), along with Delgado and Prado
“Pretty fun playing against friends. Playing against him, playing against Martin, playing against Randall – that was kind of fun.”
On the sold-out crowd
“It’s nice to play in front of the big crowd. Got a win out of it, so that’s all good.”
On Teheran
“We know what he’s capable of. He looks more confident on the mound. He’s starting to do what he’s been doing in the minor leagues for a couple of years back. It’s nice to see that.”
“We were confident as soon as we scored the first run, but it’s nice to get a couple of more runs in.”
On facing ex-Brave Delgado
“From playing behind him, I know his stuff a little bit. He fooled me the first time with the changeup, but the second time I was kind of ready for it.”
**DAN UGGLA
On getting a couple of hits including a triple
“I fought one off and got a hit in my second at-bat, battled the rest of the game and ended up getting a triple. So it was definitely a move in the right direction.”
On Teheran in recent weeks
“He’s been great, man. He just goes out there and battles. I think he’s learning from each start, not just going, ‘Oh, yeah, I dominated that game.’ I think he’s really studying and looking at what he did right and what he did wrong, and he’s making huge strides.”
On scoring on the safety squeeze
“I’ve got wheels, man. (Laughter.) I was confident in Reed getting it down and I was confident in myself being able to get home.”
About the Author
