SAN DIEGO — Braves quotes from Craig Kimbrel, Ervin Santana, Emilio Bonifacio and Fredi Gonzalez after Saturday’s 12-inning loss to the Padres.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On so many missed scoring opportunities (3-for-16 with runners in scoring position)
“We had a lot of opportunities. A lot of opportunities with people on. All we needed was one lousy run. It’s hard to get a lousy run sometimes, but we had plenty of opportunities to do it.”
On not scoring with bases loaded, none out, after Gattis GIDP
“C.J. still had a pretty good at-bat (with two out after the Gattis 5-2-3 DP), and Nelson made a great play on that ball down the line. If he doesn’t stop it it’s two runs.
“Just keep putting people on. We’re going through a little funk right now. We’re a better team that we’re showing in those situations, and we’ll get through it.”
What about Andrelton deciding to bunt with Gattis at third, runners on corners and one out?
(pause before answer) “That’s my fault there on that one. I’ll wear that one.”
Were you surprised that he bunted there?
“I’ll wear that one. That’s a bad, uh… I’ll just wear it. I’ll take responsibility.”
On Bonifacio getting caught off second, he was thinking ball going to drop in for a single?
“I think so. He’s a pretty good base runner. Amarista was out there in center field, he went a long ways to get that ball. I think he got himself a little too far off the bag and got doubled up.”
On Kimbrel, is he a vastly different pitcher when his pitch count gets up, in his second inning?
“Everybody is. Not everybody has the – he’s obviously got the makeup to do it, but to be able to do it is a little bit difficult. More difficult than just sitting in a studio someplace and thinking, ‘Oh, he can throw two innings.’ It’s not that simple. Not everybody can do it.”
On Santana
“What did he give up, two runs? Really one run and a wild pitch (by Walden). Jiminy crickets, he goes out and does that every time, he’s got a chance to win a lot of games.”
Simmons makes great play to get out at second, then Gattis guns down runner trying to steal…
“Defensively we played a great, great baseball game. How ‘bout that play with Simba? I’m waiting for the ball to go across the diamond to first, and he redirects it and Boni’s heads-up and doubles off Rivera at second. That’s the kind of stuff you can’t teach.”
Were you feeling fatigue in the 12th, your second inning?
“I wouldn’t say I was fatiguing. I did throw a lot of pitches. I don’t normally throw that many pitches, but when you go out there and throw a lot of balls and walk guys, that’s what happens. The plan was to go out there and throw one or two (innings) and hope we scored. But I just can’t go out there and walk guys like I did tonight. You put the ball in play like they did and the game’s over.”
Is walking guys like that the most frustrating way to lose for you?
“I think as a pitcher, anytime that you walk a guy and they score, you get pretty aggravated about it. Especially in that situation, where it was the ballgame. Makes it a little bit more bitter.”
Is this what can happen when you put a pitcher in situations that he’s not used to?
“Well, I mean, I didn’t expect to go out there and give up the game and lose at the end of the night. I expected to go out there and make pitches and throw two innings and then do what I had to. But it just didn’t happen tonight.”
To clarify, just meant that this is a different situation, it’s foreign to you
“You’ve got to go out there and do it and find out if you can do it or not. And I didn’t do it tonight, but that doesn’t mean I won’t do it next time.”
**ERVIN SANTANA
On the game, missed chances
“It was a tough game. We got a lot of opportunities to score a lot of runs, but we didn’t do it. But at the same time, they have great pitching and did everything to win.”
This just one of those weeks where things have snowballed on Braves, hard to stop it?
“Not really. Because it happened a couple of weeks ago when we were home, we had a bad stretch where we lost almost every games, then we came back and started winning games. We just have to try to do little things – bunting, or a base hit when we need it. That’s the only thing we can do, because we’re pitching very good. That’s it.”
**EMILIO BONIFACIO
On straying too far off second base, did you think it was going to drop for a hit?
“It was kind of a bad read. It was tough. His first couple of steps he went back.”
“In that situation we need a run, you want to try to score. It’s going to be tough (if it falls for a hit) because he’s coming pretty hard in, but it was just a bad read by me.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
Declined to speak to reporters
