Braves quotes after 2-0 loss to Orioles on Wednesday at Oriole Park at Camden Yards.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Mike Foltynewicz’s start
“Two bad pitches, and the way we are swinging the bats right now… . He pitched great. He commanded. He threw some split fingers which we wanted him to go down in the minor leagues and work on. He pitched terrific, he really did.”
On what he said to Foltynewicz after he struck out the side in the sixth
“I just said, You did a great job. Me and Roger (McDowell) thought about it a little bit, but here it is 103, 104 pitches what more can you ask. You run him back out there and he gets himself in trouble. There was nothing else more he could do and he did his job. He gave up two solo home runs. (David) Aardsma came in and did a good job. We hit during the course of the series I think nine come-backers. I haven’t seen that. We hit line drives at people. Even the last play there with Nicky (Nick Markakis), (Chris) Parmalee at first base boots it gets off his glove and the second baseman is standing right behind him. That’s the way our offense is going right now, now we get out of this place and go to Philly and start swinging the bats. I can’t complain about our pitching during this road trip (or) even coming out of the (All-Star) break. I think couple of bloop singles here and there with people on base and we’ll get going.”
On Orioles starter Chris Tillman
“He mixed his pitches well. He wasn’t like the other two guys or the guy (Kevin) Gausman who was throwing it 98 (mph). This guy kept it at 88, 91 mph but he mixed his pitches well. He threw his sinker. We hit some hard ground balls at him and some hard line drives at people. They made some nice plays.”
On Foltynewicz using his breaking balls effectively
“He did. He had some really good breaking balls down in the strike zone. There were a couple with Adam Jones and he swung through them. You don’t see him swing through some breaking balls. The one With Hardy it was just a breaking ball that was over the plate and J.J. hit it out of the ballpark. I’m really pleased, really happy with the way ‘Folty’ pitched tonight.”
On if he saw the adjustments the club wanted Foltynewicz to make in the minors
“No question. Roger, you can talk to him about it more. But we asked him to throw the split-finger (fastball) he threw a couple really, really good ones. A.J. (Pierzynski) came back in some of them are acting like knuckleballs. That’s a good rotation off a split finger when they have a tumble effect. It’s good.”
On reports of the three-way trade with the Dodgers and Marlins
“All I can say is I got here and I turned my phone on and there’s nothing on my phone from my general manager. As far as I am concerned there is no truth to those rumors right now.”
**MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ
On his outing
“There was a couple positives out there. The first and sixth innings I had clean innings. I between I had some big hitters at the plate with runners on base so I’m glad I got out of with two runs. I will take two solo shots any day. From two through fifth I just battled my butt off. I just focused on my pitches and took some time between pitches. Usually I just rapid fire and rapid fire. In a couple big situations I got outs so I’m pretty pleased with the outing.”
On if he felt strong when he struck out the side in the sixth
“Yeah, it usually takes me four or five innings to kind of get warmed up and get in a good groove. I had a real good sixth inning and just try to get my teammates in there to get the bats going.”
On using his split-finger fastball
“I think I only threw one of them. It might have been to (Matt) Wieters there in the sixth inning. That’s coming along. I am just not getting as many swings as I’d like out of it. It’s a pitch in progress and it’s getting there. I have pretty good confidence in it. If I throw it over the middle of the plate I will get more swings on it.”
On the home run pitches to Jonathan Schoop and J.J. Hardy
“I knew Schoop is an aggressive hitter and it was kind of right down the middle for him. That’s my fault there. I just hung a curveball to Hardy and he just got enough of it to get it out of here. You’ve got to tip your hat to those guys. I had two strikes on Hardy, too, so it should have been a better pitch. But I’d rather give up solo shots than two- or –three-run home runs.”
**NICK MARKAKIS
On losing in spite of Foltynewicz’s outing
“You don’t want to lose any games. He pitched good. They hit some big home runs and they closed out games. They’ve got a good ballclub over there and when you are scuffling for runs it makes it a lot tougher. The pitching was good this series. It’s a little unfortunate but we’ve got to bounce back.”
On Chris Tillman
“He pitched good. He used all of his pitches. His curveball was working. A couple times he left some changeups up but for the most part he kept the ball down and he put the ball where he wanted.”
On Foltynewicz
“I thought that was one of the better outings this year. He had life on his ball, threw his slider a little bit more. He just hung a curveball and left a fastball down the middle of the plate. Good big-league hitters don’t miss those pitches. Overall I thought he had a good outing.”
