Quotes after Braves lost 1-0 to Cardinals on Saturday at Busch Stadium.

FREDI GONZALEZ

On another tough loss for Shelby Miller

“I just sat there and looked at the linescore: one run, two hits. How much more can he do other than drive in a couple runs himself? He pitched great. He out-pitched (Carlos) Martinez, he really did. We had an opportunity we get second and third he throws that wild pitch. We hit into four double plays. One was a hit-and-run and the ball went up the middle and (Kolten) Wong was just standing there. You can’t ask for anything more than what Miller has given us. I like the way he battled against a tough pitcher in Martinez. When he gives you an opportunity you’ve got to take advantage. He made some pitches also.”

On Miller being calm in first start back in St. Louis

“Not at all. He (rose) to the occasion. Cardinal fans were unbelievable. Nothing surprising there. They gave him a standing ovation his first time up. Class fans, maybe the best fans in baseball. They know the game, they love their people here. It was nice to see them do that for Shelby.”

On Martinez

“He’s got 96 in his pocket. It moves, it sinks. He’s got all the breaking pitches and they made some plays behind him.”

On if he got the matchup he wanted with Luis Avilan vs. Stephen Piscotty in eighth inning

“I think so. They didn’t do it yesterday so I put the ball in his court. You feel like ‘Avi’ can get lefties and righties out and he did. It was a sac fly out. It was deep enough for (Pete) Kozma to score on that.”

On if it was good to see Freddie Freeman back

“Yeah, he got here about second inning. I wanted to make sure he was loose. He came out here and got on the bike, got in the batting cage and got nice and lathered up before he went out there. I would have liked to get him one more at-bat there in the ninth inning but that didn’t materialize. We had the right guys at the plate: (Nick)Markakis, (A.J.) Pierzynski, the possibility of Freeman.

On how tough it was to get Freeman here

“No, we’ve been talking about this since 9 o’clock this morning. Everything worked well. I had my doubts also that he would get here, that’s why we wanted to make sure he was nice and loose. We didn’t want to run him out there after a long day for him. I’m sure he got up at 7 in the morning to go play a Gulf Coast League game.”

SHELBY MILLER

On his return to St. Louis.

“It was everything you expected it to be. It was a lot of fun. We played a tough game, kind of lost it at the end. Other than that, on my part I felt good. We made some key defensive plays. We got some double plays which were huge to get us out of a little jam. All in all it was a good day for all of us we just didn’t come out on top.”

On getting standing ovation

“It was nice. Being here for two years I have nothing but respect for that organization and all of their fans. They are considered the best. Coming into tonight kind of shows why they are the best. They are great and it was nice to get something like that but at the same time we are out there trying to win a ball game and we didn’t do that.”

On if he can take some positives from the game

“I felt great. I felt like I had command of all my pitches. I even threw a split and that’s pretty rare. I felt good. I felt like we did a good job getting ahead in counts and making certain pitches when we needed them. We just couldn’t pull it off.”

On if the winless streak has been tough

“That’s not a big deal. I’m going to come back every five days and try to do my job.”

JACE PETERSON

On Shelby Miller

“It’s disappointing for us to have him throw the way he does every day and just not come through with runs. It’s frustrating for us and I know it is for him, too. We’ve just got to keep going and eventually hopefully it will start clicking.”

On Carlos Martinez

“He threw every pitch for strikes. He pounded the zone. He got a bunch of double plays, that kind of helped him out and kept his pitch count down. He threw everything in the zone. Unfortunately the balls we hit hard were right at people.”

On getting a lift from the return of Freddie Freeman

“Huge. We’ve got our anchor back in our lineup, one of our guys. He’s the best hitter on the team. He does what he does and we couldn’t be more happy to have him back.”

FREDDIE FREEMAN

On if he’s glad to be back

“Definitely. Obviously it’s a little earlier than I expected but that’s me pushing it. Hand doesn’t hurt at all. I thought after yesterday’s game I got through it with no pain and see if we could push the envelope and here I am.”

On persuading team to let him return

“Yeah, I was on my phone all morning. I was pleading my case. The game got canceled in Orlando this morning. I got my early work done and everything was feeling good. Since I didn’t get the game I was just trying to get here and happily they obliged. It’s been a long day but happy to be here.”

On if he made the call to return

“No. I asked and it took a while but they talked it over and they made the decision to bring me here.”

On if his argument was no pain in the hand

“Yeah, it’s no pain. That was the biggest thing for me. I was telling them I was good, I’m healthy, let’s just get me in St. Louis. They talked it over and they said yes. As long as I’m healthy, I will get the timing down. That should come quickly hopefully. I feel good. I saw the pitches well. I saw the first-pitch change-up and didn’t jump at it. I was able to see the heater and I barely missed it.”

On when he arrived

“I got here in the bottom of the second, ran to the hot tub, got on the bike and back in the dugout. I got here as fast as I could.”

On the offense struggling without him

“I am looking forward to getting back in there. Hopefully we can get some runs going tomorrow against (Michael) Wacha. It’s another tough assignment but hopefully we are up to the challenge and can go out there and get some good ABs and get something going starting tomorrow.”