Braves quotes after their 7-1 loss to the Marlins on Tuesday at Turner Field.
FREDI GONZALEZ
On trend of falling behind early
“It hurts because you want to score some runs. We had first and second in the first, double-play ball. We had bases loaded in the third and he wiggled out of that one. We couldn’t get anything going.”
On if he got what he expected out of Manny Banuelos
“Yeah, I think so. This was his first start coming back in the major leagues from his injury. We didn’t expect anything more. We were hoping we would get clean innings, but we were hoping we would get three solid innings from him. He’s healthy and we will go on from his next start.”
On Sugar Ray Marimon pitching 3 1/3 innings
“Real big. And I was impressed with Dan Burawa coming in. He threw the ball well. He threw the ball over the plate. I went in to watch it on TV a little bit and the ball had some sink and a pretty good slider. That was a nice couple innings watching that young man pitching.”
On the lineup battling
“It does. We get bases loaded and (Cameron) Maybin hits a rocket down the line there and (Justin) Bour makes a terrific play, really.”
On what he saw from Hector Olivera in debut
“I will answer that today because today was his first day (but) I don’t want it to be the Olivera watch every time he plays. The kid has enough things on his plate without doing that. I thought he was fine. I saw some good passes at the ball. I thought he made a couple nice plays defensively. Remember, this is the first time he’s ever played in the big leagues. I think he did a nice job, he did fine.”
HECTOR OLIVERA (via interpreter)
On what he thought about the pitching
“It looked like big league pitching. It’s the very best pitchers in the world in major league baseball. The pitchers here are not pushovers.”
On his performance
“I felt good during the game. I feel I gave a solid effort. As the days progress, I will get better. It’s just building some confidence as I go forward.”
On his emotions
“Today I reached my dream. I’m here. I finally realized it. As I continue I will start getting better. Overall today was a good effort but I want to build on it, of course.”
A.J. PIERZYNSKI
On Manny Banuelos
“He hadn’t had a bunch of rehab outings. He just looked a little rusty. It’s hard when you are on a limited pitch count and you haven’t been out there to just get thrown in a big league game, it’s not easy. He made some good pitches but he made some mistakes there in the first inning and fell behind some guys. The second inning was good. The third inning I thought he was OK. He was rusty but next time it will be better.”
On having chances against Marlins starter Justin Nicolino
“Cam hits that ball and if it goes down the right-field line it’s 3-3 and here we go. Instead, he hits it right to the first baseman. You can’t control that. All you can do is control your effort and your intensity and what you bring every day. We are trying to do. We all know where we stand. It’s tough. But we’ll be here tomorrow.”
