Braves quotes from Julio Teheran, Todd Cunningham and Fredi Gonzalez after Friday’s 6-3 win against the Marlins.
**TODD CUNNINGHAM
On scoring the go-ahead run and making a diving catch in the ninth inning
“Any time you can contribute it makes the game a lot more fun.”
Did you know you were safe at home on the call that was overturned (from out to safe) in the seventh?
“It all happened so fast. You just kind of assume when the ball beat you there. I thought he might have been straddling the plate, and it turns out he was. Just kind of got lucky that we challenged the call that looks like you’re out by that much.”
On replay helping Braves get three runs
“Absolutely. We can’t complain about it tonight.”
On Teheran vs. Fernandez matchup
“Julio did a great job. Fernandez did a good job until that one inning, we got on him with some hits and just kind of made things happen. Any time you can match up with a guy like Fernandez, it puts Julio right up there at the top.”
On what you learn from watching Markakis and Pierzynski and the at-bats they’re having this year
“Everyone should want to be like Markakis, stepping in there and gets three hits after a sore thumb from (being hit by a pitch) last night. Tough lefty-lefty (matchup) and he gets the big hit. I don’t know why anyone wouldn’t want to be like that. It goes a long way to have some veteran leadership like that around a group of young guys. We were joking in there about how we have the Gwinnett Braves up here playing right now against the Marlins. When you have some older guys mixed in, you can have a really fun team.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On getting up to face Fernandez
“I know he’s one of the best pitchers in the game. He’s coming back from the surgery and doing a great job, so it was an exciting game. I was just trying to do my job, and I think I did it pretty good. I tried to do the same thing I did my last start, tried to command my fastball and use all my pitches, and that’s what I was able to do today.”
On following up strong start at Philly with a good one tonight
“That’s what I’ve been working toward, trying to be consistent. That’s a good sign whenever you have two in a row. That’s what I can do and need to do. Let’s see how I do in my next start.”
On doing well against lefties, who’ve hurt him a lot this season
“I’ve been working to get the lefties out. It was a struggle at the beginning of the year, but I think I’m more comfortable with them, pitching inside and trying to use all my pitches.”
On how he’s improved since moving to first-base side of the pitching rubber
“I’ve been trying anything I can do. I feel better, like my fastball command is a lot better now that I’m on the first-base side of the rubber. That’s something that Roger and I have been working on.”
On Pierzynski
“He’s one of the best hitters that we have right now. It’s kind of fun whenever he steps to the plate. I know sometimes he gets mean, but that’s part of the way he is and the way he motivates himself, and I think he’s doing a great job.”
He gets “mean”?
(Teheran laughs.) “I mean, yeah, sometimes he seems mean. He likes to talk with the (opposing) pitchers; that’s the way he motivates himself, to see if he can get something easy to hit.”
** FREDI GONZALEZ
On good at-bats in the fourth inning
“Yeah. (Jose Fernandez) was pretty dominant. Early in the game and all of a sudden I think he started that inning with a base-on-ball, and we end up getting some good at-bats, put the ball in play, they found some holes. And Julio matched him pretty much the whole game except there in the seventh inning. Our bullpen did a nice job. I think that replay worked today because from the naked eye I’m thinking Cunningham is out easy. And we get a phone call from Horacio (Ramirez, who manages the Braves’ instant-replay protocol) who did a terrific job, him saying, ‘Hey challenge it. He didn’t tag him and he missed the plate.’ I got on the phone, myself, which I never do, and he says, ‘No challenge it.’ And so we did and sure enough, and it was plain as day when they showed it on the billboard. And then the one at third base, the same thing. So great for Horacio who did that for us today, and replay does do its job.”
On Nick Markakis’ at-bat in the seventh
“He gives you a professional at-bat. Both him and Pierzynski give you terrific at-bats. I think a lot of the guys do. Peterson, Maybin have given us that this year, and it was good.”
On Markakis fouling off six pitches in that seventh-inning at-bat
“Maybe that wore him out a little bit. We’ve seen that before where a guy has a tough time putting a hitter away and it’s a six, seven, 10-pitch at-bat. Next thing you know, it’s a grind to put to a good hitter in those situations.”
On Todd Cunningham’s catch in the ninth
“We’ve seen it. That was a heck of a catch. Instead of being man on first, one out, it could have been second and third and no outs and here we go. But nice play by him. (Daniel) Castro made a couple nice plays, himself, and the play at first base – there’s a lot of stuff you want to do in your life, but it’s nice to have some speed and Dee Gordon just beat everybody to first base. We didn’t do anything wrong there, it was just a chopper that he beat us to the bag and it scored a big run for them.”
On importance of scoring runs to answer Miami’s two runs in the fourth
“We talk about it opposite: When we score it’s so important to shut down the opposition. And they scored and they didn’t shut us down and we were able to get back in the game.”
On how fun it is to watch veterans like Markakis and A.J. Pierzynski consistently perform
“Very productive players. You appreciate that and the way they go about their business. Hopefully that carries in the clubhouse for the Petersons of the world – first year in the big leagues but he sees Markakis and Pierzynski and Kelly Johnson when he was here the way they go up. We bring in Michael Bourn who is (the same type of veteran). So it’s nice to surround some of those young players with those type of players we’re bringing in and have here.”
On if the Braves made any moves to prepare for Bourn and Nick Swisher arriving tomorrow
“We got to wait to make sure everybody gets here and we see the white of their eyes.”
