Braves quotes from David Hale, Andrelton Simmons, B.J. Upton, Gavin Floyd and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Saturday’s 13-inning loss to the Angels.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On game having the potential to be a big win until things came unraveled in 13th
“I give a lot of credit to our guys. We were down four runs there in the ninth inning and battled back, battled back. We have a lot of (deficiencies) in our team, but battling and fight is not one of them. And I’m sure everyone has got some pimples here and there, but that’s not a trait that we lack. We battle our ass off, all the way to the end. We had some opportunities (to win) but I’m really proud of our club. Four runs down and tied the game up. They score one at the top of the 10th and we came back and scored again and tied and just one of those things at the end we just didn’t have enough to get the W.”
On David Hale pitching well for two innings before the 13th inning, his third of the night
“It’s the second day in a row for him and then all of a sudden we ask him to go what three innings, but he gave us everything he had. He left everything on the field today. We had some opportunities, you know the guy made (Kole) Calhoun makes a great play, diving play on Justin’s ball, we could have won the game there. Simmons hit a rocket double off in the 11th, I think it was. And then the big boys got us there at the end.”
On Floyd’s performance
“I look at the ball that Trout hit, the first home run, before they went back-to-back, I thought he threw a changeup pretty good. Maybe he was down and in a little bit maybe in his wheelhouse, but it was pretty good. It looked like from the bench that it was down. And then I think he just left a slider right over the plate to (Albert) Pujols, they got him back-to-back. But he gave us a good opportunity to win a game.”
Nice to see Freddie get a big hit?
“Yeah, we had a lot of guys with some big hits and kept the rally going. La Stella had a couple nice hits and what did we have 14 hits, 15 hits. We had some opportunity to leave them on the field and that didn’t materialize.”
Heyward is doing fine got through it OK with the hand?
“Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s fine. Everybody, believe it or not we played 13 innings and everybody made it out fine. And you know this is one of those days that it’s good we have that ESPN 8 p.m. game tomorrow. Get rested up and come out tomorrow and try to win the series.”
Do you have to bring somebody (a relief pitcher from minors) up tomorrow?
“No, I think we’re good. Obviously we didn’t want to use (Shae) Simmons there and David (Hale) but I think everybody else is going to be OK.
**GAVIN FLOYD
On the two homers he gave up in the sixth
“One of them was a bad pitch, one of them was a pretty good pitch, just on his barrel. Other than that I did pretty well, felt good.”
Were the homers on good pitches or mistakes?
“I felt like one was a good pitch, the other was just up in the zone, obviously I wish I’d made a better pitch with that. Especially with the kind of lineup they have; they have some pretty good hitters on that team. It definitely wasn’t the pitch that I wanted to execute.”
On watching Braves rally in the late innings
“We’ve got a lot of fight. Whenever we’re down we’re always fighting to get back. It was great to see, we came back from a deficit and then came back again. We kept fighting. We’ve got a lot of heart and it was a good ballgame. They were fighting just as much as we were.”
** B.J. UPTON
On team rallying late
“That’s what the game’s about, it’s about fighting. It’s not over till you make your last out. We fought. We fought hard. We just came up a little short.”
Nice to get that two-RBI hit after making the error earlier
“Yeah, definitely. Still, at the same time I kind of think if I don’t make that error, then maybe we won the game. It’s on me. But all in all, we battled hard and just didn’t come up with the win.”
On comparing this loss to a more normal 3-2 loss in nine innings or something like that
“It’s a loss. We had our chances. We battled back and had some chances to walk away with the win, and didn’t. Take that, swallow it, and come back ready to play tomorrow.”
**DAVID HALE
Did you feel like you ran out of gas there in the 13th?
“No, no, I just can’t walk people like that. Just got to throw strikes. That was a big problem.”
Walking pitcher C.J. Wilson, who was pinch-hitting, was that a sign of fatigue?
“No, I don’t think so.”
Tough having two such strong innings in the 11th and 12th, then to have it come apart in 13th?
“Yeah, that stings a little bit, to have started off so well and then to have it end like that.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On lining into inning-ending double play
“Can’t aim them, can’t make them fall (for hits). We had a couple of shots, they robbed us. Sometimes it’s just not yours. At least we showed that we can still battle, even though we were four runs behind. Came back, tied the game up. We had opportunities. At the end the one that capitalizes is the one that wins, but we at least showed that we have it. We’re capable of coming back. The offense is capable of waking up at any time. That’s a good sign at least.”
On Gattis’ homer in the 8th, did that kind of wake the offense?
“Oh, yeah. I mean, it shows you how quick we can put up runs. I mean, Gattis has been unbelievable hitting lately. Just let him do his thing. But we’ve got players that are able to get on base and get a big hit. We got a couple of base hits together, but it wasn’t enough.”
Did you think Justin’s bases-loaded, two-out fly was going to fall for a hit?
“Oh, yeah, everybody was ready to jump out. That won them the game. That was a big moment for them. They fought back after that and they ended up taking it.”
On Freeman coming through with a big hit, been slumping lately
“That’s good for us, good for him. He always comes up big in those situations. So we always, no matter what, no matter how he’s swung the bat, we’re confident whenever he’s up there with the tying run on base. And he did it again.”
