CINCINNATI — Braves quotes from Shelby Miller, A.J. Pierzysnki, Phil Gosselin and Fredi Gonzalez after Monday’s 2-1 win against the Reds.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Gosselin in the 9th — single, steal, scores on wild pitch
“He’s a great piece. We always talk about his baseball IQ. He’s never going to miss a sign. Today he got a base hit off a tough left-hander, Chapman, and was able to steal third. We knew that (Chapman) had some big numbers (slow to plate). I don’t know if he’s your typical stolen-base threat, but he had a great jump, great lead, and beat the throw to third base and was able to score on a passed ball/wild pitch, whichever way they scored it. It was a good way to end a losing streak, 2-1 game.”
“Shelby Miller was about as good as you could want him to be. Got himself out of some jams early, made some big pitches. It was a good team effort. We out-hit them; I think we got (11) hits, they got four. We put Leake on the ropes a couple of times and he showed why he is what he is. He was able to get out of it.”
Shelby seemed to pick up right where he left off in his last start
“He sure did. He’s a special guy. Glad we get to see him every fifth day.”
On Grilli not pitching the ninth, after Gonzalez said before game that his back spasms had subsided
“We talked, Jason and I and our trainers, shortly after you (reporters) left (before the game). It was my decision, I said you know what, let’s give it one more day. He told us he could probably go. So let’s give him one more day so the probably becomes more, ‘I can.’ Everything was good with him, just wanted to give him one more day.”
Miller really seemed to be fired up that seventh inning after giving up the two-out hit
“He’s a competitor, man. I’m glad that we were able to get him out of the inning, because he’s one of those guys you hate to go out there and get the ball from him. Because he ain’t going to give it to you that easily. And that’s a nice trait. I think he’s learned that with the Cardinals and those tough starters that they have up there. It’s a great trait. Good for us that we have that young man pitching for us.”
More on Shelby Miller
“It’s too bad we couldn’t get him the W. But shoot, if he pitches like he did today, he’s got a lot of chances to win a lot of games.”
To clarify, on the play at the plate, you have to challenge plate-blocking so they’ll review both parts of the plate, because if you challenge the tag they can’t review the plate-blocking element, correct? And if you challenge the plat-blocking they review both it and the tag and whether he was out?
“Correct. I challenge (the plate-blocking) rule. It was almost identical to the play in New York that we (challenged and) won, with Pierzysnki running. And this one they didn’t (overturn).”
“It could have gone either way. We’ve got replay and they can slow it down, but I think it still comes down to interpretation (of the plate-blocking rule).”
**SHELBY MILLER
On getting in groove after the early run
“The first couple of innings we were kind of rushing a little bit. A.J. came out and saw some things that were going on in my mechanics, so he came out and fixed that, which was nice. But after that we settled in pretty good, just trying to put up zeroes. We did a good job of that tonight, as well. The offense came around in the ninth against one of the best closers in the game, which was pretty special. Got to tip your cap to them. And made some good plays, got out of some jams. Overall good night, we needed this win bad.”
When A.J. came out to talk to you, did he just tell you to slow down?
“Yeah, just kind of got me back to where I need to be, saw some things with my mechanics. It’s nice to have somebody that I’ve thrown to for awhile who knows my mechanics and knows what to see in a pitcher. That was nice for him to come out and kind of give me an idea what I was doing wrong. We settled in nice from there and played a great game all-around.”
Nice to come into this ballpark and keep that streak alive of two or fewer earned runs in every start this season?
“Yeah, this is obviously a tough ballpark to pitch in. They’re a team that hits pretty good at home. They hit a lot of home runs, have a lot of power throughout the lineup. I just try to keep the ball on the ground as much as possible, get groundballs, get quick outs. And we did a good job of that tonight, especially against a team like that in this ballpark. So, just keep grinding away.”
**AJ PIERZYNSKI
On Miller taking his game to another level since late last season with Cardinals
“Yeah, he’s throwing the ball great. I mean, what can you say about it? I know in the last game he pitched (against the Reds) they got (two) homers off of him. I know from being with St. Louis, that’s kind of their game, is hit home runs and put pressure on you. He did a really good job of slowing the game down after the first couple of innings. We talked about how the rain delay kind of got him messed up. It was a rush. It was like 8:20 and they said, ‘The game’s at 8:50.’ And we’re all kind of, ‘We’ve got to go.’ And that kind of got him out of his normal routine. But after the second inning he really settled down and came back to the way Shelby’s been throwing. He threw the ball great. Seven innings, only (three) hits, one run. He controlled his emotions and did what we needed to do.
“I wish we could have scored some runs and got him the win, because he deserved it with the way he pitched.”
On Gosselin coming off bench to start rally against Chapman
“He’s a good little player, man. That’s a perfect swing for Chapman. You can’t get big (with swing) off him, he throws 100. Up the middle, he did it, and obviously Markakis with the hit, and stealing third – it was a good baseball inning.”
**PHIL GOSSELIN
On his hit off Chapman to start the rally in ninth
“I was able to lay off a couple of off-speed pitches and then get that fastball and put a good swing on it.”
Key to success off him, keep the swing short?
“Yeah, keep it short, see something down in the zone and just try to put it in play. You can’t try to do too much because if you try to swing hard it’s going to be by you.”
You see the wild pitch are you thinking ‘go’ right away?
“Yeah, I was ready for anything, obviously look for something in the dirt and try to score there. That’s a tough at-bat for Freddie, left on left, so I’m trying to do anything I can to score.”
On stealing third
“First pitch (to Simmons) was pretty slow, so I said to myself if he’s slow again, I’m going to try to take a shot here and go for it. I got a good jump. Almost fell halfway there, but fortunately stayed on my feet and got in there.”
