Braves quotes after 9-1 loss to the Blue Jays on Wednesday at Turner Field.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Shelby Miller’s issue tonight
“I think it was location. Location with all his pitches. He left some balls out over the plate and didn’t locate. With a good-hitting club like they do if you don’t locate you are going to get hit. That’s what happened. That might be the first time I haven’t seen him locate in a long, long time.”
On if Miller’s winless stretch is wearing on him
“That’s something you may have to ask him. It’s got to be tough for a young man to go through what he’s going through. If he keeps sticking his note to the grindstone he will be a better person, a better pitcher at the other end of that. It’s hard to tell those guys now and for them to believe you it’s a different story. I’m sure it’s frustrating for him.”
On why he removed Miller in the fourth inning
“It’s 80-plus pitches and it’s just one of those days I wasn’t going to let him go out there and let him get beat up all night long.”
On if Miller’s rough starts lately are a mental or physical grind
“He’s got to go through it. I think today he surpassed his most innings in the big leagues if I’m not mistakes. And he’s got two more starts, maybe three more starts and you’ve got to try and keep him built up and get him as close to 200 innings as we can for next year and also for his future. It’s a grind. It’s not easy pitching in the big leagues. It’s 33, 35-plus starts every single year it’s a grind, it’s tough. He’s going to be better off for it in the future.”
On the team putting the ball in play against David Price
“They scored four runs in the first inning and then we came back and manufactured a run right away. I’m thinking, OK, we keep it right there we might be able to tack on some more runs in the course of the game. You see Price’s stuff elevate when he has to. We have first and second and suddenly he’s starting 93, 94 mph fastballs. You can tell why he’s been so successful.”
**SHELBY MILLER
On what was disappointing about his start
“I just didn’t really have anything going for me at all, really. So a lot of things.”
On if he was upset when Gonzalez removed him from the game
“No, not really. I can understand it.”
On if his location could have been better
“Yeah, probably just throw more strikes.”
On if he feels mental and physical grind late in season
“Not really anything mentally, more of physically you kind of get tired and you try to stake out these last couple starts and see what happens.”
On if anything in first inning made him think he needed to make adjustments
“Not really.”
**NICK SWISHER
On David Price
“He’ s one of those guys, you get a two-strike count he’s got stuff to put you away. He’s a competitor. He’s one of the best in the league, and for him to be over there it’s a huge pickup for them. He’s definitely going to help them. In situations like that you can’t get in two-strike counts he’s going to put you down.”
On falling behind early to Price
“That’s kind of been our thing. It’s tough as a team and as a group when you go out in the second inning you are already down four-, five-nothing. It’s tough. Instead of being on the attack mode you are kind of on your heels a little bit and it’s, ‘All right. Maybe I’ve got to take a couple pitches here. It’s a long inning I can’t just go up and swing at the first pitch.’ And then next thing you know you are down 0-2. For us maybe we need to keep that aggressive mentality and not worry about what the score is and just play our game.”
On Miller’s losing streak
“It’s tough watching that, man. He’s such a great guy and he’s such a competitor. He’s an All-Star and he’s got tremendous stuff. Can’t catch a break, man. Sometimes in this game that’s what you need is a break and a lucky bounce here or there. He’s just been on the unfortunate side. It’s not a lack of work ethic or anything like that. The dude’s a machine. He works his tail off and he wants the ball every fifth day. And we want him on the mound. Just like with Julio (Teheran) when he steps on the mound, we feel we’ve got a good chance just like Shelby does. This is a tough stretch for him. You hate to see somebody go through something like that. Every time he steps on the mound you try to dig in a little deeper because you really want to get him that win. With a lineup like they had tonight, they got some runs early and it was tough to come back.”
