Braves quotes after opening win at Miami
Braves quotes from Jason Grilli, Christian Bethancourt, Julio Teheran and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Monday’s 2-1 opening-day win at Miami.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On the win
“We’d like to score more, but we got two, and that seventh inning was unbelievable, to get out of that jam, bases loaded, nobody out. A big 5-2-3 double play. Tremendous. We were talking about earlier using J.J., the reason we used Grilli in the ninth is because J.J. can give you those multiple innings. And we did it today. Both of those guys came out of the bullpen throwing really good stuff.”
On small ball, manufactured both your runs
“We did. One time we did it by getting the big base hits, and the other time we did it by fundamentals. We got a leadoff double by EY, brought him over, and EY’s speed and his athleticism, he was able to beat the throw to the plate. That’s the way we’ve got to create runs. I think we only struck out three times…before Dunn came in. It was nice to see the guys putting the ball in play, fundamentally sound plays, and the pitching – you’ve got to tip your hat to Julio, his first start, opening day craziness, and the roof didn’t close in time and we had a little bit of a delay. But he kept it going pretty good.”
On Grilli pitching perfect ninth, starting with striking out Stanton
“Well he’s done it before. Both of those guys have done it before, so you can feel comfortable either way. And those guys didn’t walk anybody. You’ve got to put the ball in play (against them) and they did a nice job. You’re sitting there after Craig gets traded and you’re thinking the first chance, it’s going to be a one-run game. And sure enough, it didn’t take but about 12 hours for this thing to materialize. But those two guys can handle it in that role. I’m really proud of them. We got it out of the way. Better right now than to wait a week to try to win a one-run game.”
Is this a sign of way this team can play?
“We’ve been doing this all spring. It’s a team that’s going to put the ball in play. You make a mistake, a couple of guys in our lineup can run you out of the ballpark, but for the most part you like the athleticism, you like the versatility. You can let Kelly Johnson get three at-bats in left field because you’ve got the good matchup and then you can put Maybin in center and EY in left and shore up your defense.”
On Bethancourt’s arm on two big plays
“And he did a nice job with Avilan with the bases loaded facing Saltalamacchia and getting through that inning.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On the game and his performance
“I’m happy that we started our season with a win, that’s all we wanted.”
On being more relaxed than he was in his first opening day start a year ago
“I felt relaxed, but at the same time I felt like I was competing like I always do. I felt ready, and we saw it today.”
On bullpen getting out of jam
“They really got my back right there. We’ve got great guys out there, and we saw it today. I got in a little bit of trouble, and they got my back.”
On the defense
“They’re always making plays for me. You feel comfortable, you’ve just got to make pitches and you know they’ve got your back right there.”
On Bethancourt’s strong arm
“Yeah, you don’t really worry about somebody stealing, because you know that he’s back there. And we really have good communication with each other.”
How big to win this game, after the trades including Kimbrel deal Sunday?
“We had our mind in this game. We lost Craig, but we still have those guys back there to replace him.”
**CHRISTIAN BETHANCOURT
On throwing out Dee Gordon
“I played with him in the Dominican Republic. I knew he was going to try to run on me…. I played with him on the same team, so he’s a guy I know well. I know where his strengths are and where we can get him out.”
On the strong throw on double play. Play of the game.
“The only thing I was worried about was to not throw the ball over Freddie. So I was really careful with that throw. It’s a good thing we had it; like you say, it was the play of the game. We saved the game right there, there was a double play and then we got the pop-up to get out of the inning.”
On bullpen passing first test post-Kimbrel
“Yeah, our bullpen did a perfect job. You can’t ask any more than that of our bullpen today. You’ve got Avilan, he came with the bases loaded and no outs, facing a right-hander, and he got the double-play groundball. After that you’ve got Jim Johnson, he came in right on it and go the pop-up. And Jason Grilli did a tremendous job, too.”
**JASON GRILLI
On having save situation in first game with him as closer after Kimbrel trade
“I think just the goal from spring training was just, whenever the ball’s given to, the guys in this room, we just want to win. Just find a way to win. Today’s a case in point. Everybody played the way we needed to fundamentally, and we did what we had to do.”
On getting save opportunity in his first game as a Brave
“It’s great. I’ve always loved closing. When you’re a reliever, you strive to be that last guy in the end. But we’re all closers. Avilan, to me, tip your cap to that guy. That guy was the hero of the game on the mound tonight because he made a big pitch, got a double play for us, and allowed us to win that ballgame.”
“The formula is good, we’ve just got to continue to do our thing, pound strikes. They have a lot of guys who have big swings, especially in the middle of the lineup, so you know they’re going to come at you. But you’ve got to be aggressive. We didn’t back down. Winning these close ballgames kind of shows what kind of grit this team has.”
On Bethancourt’s arm displayed on couple of plays
“I was just having that conversation with someone, saying I didn’t get to throw to him much or see him much this spring training. So to see it…. The words had just left our mouths, saying he had a great arm, and I got to see it finally. It’s pretty crazy that you can do what you have to do in spring to get ready, and guys not hitting the gas pedal entirely, because the adrenaline, you can’t replicate that. So it’s good to see everybody controlled it, pulled out a big win to get the first one under our belts.”
**LUIS AVILAN
On what he was thinking entering with no room for error, getting double-play grounder
“I was thinking, Eric O’Flaherty taught me when you get in that situation, just try to get as many outs as you can with as few runs as you can allow. If you can get a double play and allow one run, it’s good. But it worked even better this time.”
On Bethancourt’s arm helping out
“Oh, yeah. As soon as I saw him take one step (to throw), I was like, he’s going to kill Freeman.”
How big for you to start new season that way, for them to have faith in you in that situation and to come through?
“Yeah, especially because the season that I had last year. It was big for me to get the job done. I worked really, really hard this offseason, with my pitches and my conditioning and everything. I feel more comfortable with my pitches, I’ve got the feeling on my breaking balls and command of my pitches. If you feel like that, you’re going to enjoy the game. I think that was a big part of me last year, because I didn’t have fun at all. I lose my confidence and I didn’t have the feel of my pitches. This year is different. Let’s see how the rest of the season goes.”
