MILWAUKEE — Braves postgame quotes from pitcher Julio Teheran, catcher Evan Gattis, third baseman Chris Johnson, second baseman Dan Uggla and manager Fredi Gonzalez.
**EVAN GATTIS
On working with Teheran
“The fastball in to Ramirez was maybe not the best pitch to throw in hindsight, but after the swing he took on the changeup, and as you get later in at-bats he starts to move the field over to the right side, kind of hanging out with soft stuff. But I thought it was the right call at the time, and it wasn’t.”
On only one hit with RISP, that by Brewers
“Yeah, that cost us. Just like that. The wrong pitches, whatever, that can cost you.”
On what made Gallardo tough
“He threw a lot of first-pitch breaking-ball strikes, and that cutter was pretty good today. Locations I saw it in, it’s a good pitch…. But yeah, I thought he commanded the ball well, mixed it up, lot of first-pitch off-speed.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On Gallardo
“He’s pretty good. I faced him al ot when I was with Houston, too. He does a good job mixing it up. He gets ahead, too. He can get ahead with multiple pitches. You go up there in your third at-bat and he’ll throw you something completely different. You’re like, where did that come from? He’s a good pitcher, man. One of the tougher guys in the league.”
On being shut out five of past seven games vs. Brewers
“They’ve got some good pitchers, some good arms. They have some pitchers over there, they don’t have many throwers. You get some guys who are just up there throwing the ball, but these guys know how to pitch. Lucroy knows how to call a good game and they’re tough. Especially tough in their home ballpark.
“But we’ll come out tomorrow, got the first-day jitters out of the way, so we’ll be back tomorrow and hopefully still win the series.”
On Teheran getting out of repeated jams until he didn’t
“He battled. He didn’t have his stuff today and only gave up two runs. He battled his butt off when guys got in scoring position. He got out of some jams and that was good to see.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On getting into and out of trouble most of the way
“I was battling the whole game. I just had the one bad inning where I couldn’t get out of trouble.”
Leadoff guys reaching base
“I didn’t want to walk the leadoff hitter. Aramis, that was the pitch that I wanted to make. I know that it was inside, and he got me on that one.”
On the four-pitch walk to Segura that started the 2-run inning
“As soon as I walked him I was just trying to get the next guy out, maybe get a double play. But I got into trouble and couldn’t get out of it on that one.”
On not having his best stuff
“My pitches didn’t work like they usually work. I was trying to compete using what I had working.”
Not as sharp today as you were in spring training?
“I didn’t have my sinker, something I’ve been using. At the end of the game it was working and I was like, it’s late. But some games are like that and we’ve just got to battle with what we have working. The slider was working a little and my changeup I used a lot today.”
**DAN UGGLA
On him hitting balls hard in every at-bat but one
“I felt great. The only one I didn’t hit was a curveball that backed up on me.”
On not winning a game when Julio gives up only two runs; importance of that with diminished rotation
“Yeah, I mean regardless of the injuries we’ve had with our staff, I’ve always put a lot of importance on these early games. Everyone’s always like, ‘It’s early, it’s early,’ but…. And Julio pitched great. He pitched good enough for us to win. All these games are important early on, man. But they got a big hit when they needed it and made pitches when they needed to and made a play when they needed to.”
On getting shut out five of past seven games vs. Brewers
“Just a baseball thing. We as players don’t look too much into that. Like, I had no idea they had done that to us until you just said it. We always look at each game like we’re going to go out and win it. We don’t look at what happened last year or the day before. You go out and try to win the game.”
On Gallardo getting in a groove after Braves wasted early opportunities
“It’s opening day, everybody’s got a little first-day jitters. I’m sure he did too. You’re not human if you don’t. But he looked a little, I don’t want to say rocky or shaky, but he looked a little whatever in the first inning, was falling behind a couple of hitters. But then he kind of fell into a nice little groove and made some pitches. But we were just a knock away, just never got anything going today.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Teheran
“I thought he was outstanding, really. Gave us six strong innings, gave up two runs, gave us a great opportunity to win the ballgame. We got shut out. We had some opportunities offensively, but I thought he did a terrific job.”
On Uggla’s ninth-inning at-bat, hard-hit fielder’s choice
“Danny had some great at-bats the whole game, I really did. He doesn’t get anything for it, as far as hits or anything like that. But his approach was about as good as I’ve seen it in a long time. He drove a ball to right field, hit one to left field, puts that ball in play against that shift and if that balls goes through who knows what we’ve got going on? But I thought he had some really good at-bats.”
On Gallardo excelling again vs. Braves
“I’ve never seen him pitch bad. He’s one of those guys where he gets some people on base and he makes pitches. He gets tough, he doesn’t give in. We expanded the strike zone a couple of times and helped him out. But he’s a tough at-bat against, really.”
On Teheran getting in and out of trouble from the get-go, did you think he was sharp?
“Well, I think starting pitchers do get in jams every once in a while. At the end if you can get through those innings, he’s fine, and he did. For his first start, first opening day, I thought he did a terrific job.”
On two rookie relievers, Thomas and Schlosser, holding them scoreless over last two
“That’s why they’re on the team. They showed that characteristic in spring training. Schlosser came in and got the ground-ball double play, and that why we wanted him in the bullpen, he gives you a little different look, a sinker baller. And Thomas gets to face the two lefties. He hung a breaking ball on Scooter, but other than that, I thought first game, throw them in the fire, they did a terrific job.”
On replay and getting the first overturned decision in the new challenge system
“It sure felt like I was out there 10, 15 minutes. Before tonight’s over I’m going to put a clock on it and see exactly how long it took. But you know what? They got the play right? And that’s the bottom line. It’s a process. They’re working through the kinks. And at the end of the day, they got the play right.”
