ARLINGTON, Texas — Braves quotes from Justin Upton, Julio Teheran and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Saturday’s 3-2 loss to the Rangers.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Julio Teheran’s hard-luck performance
“He pitched really, really well. I mean, better than really well. He goes from no hits to giving up a couple of hits to losing the ballgame. Most nights, lot of nights, he holds that to 2-nothing and we’ve got a chance to give the ball to Kimbrel in the ninth inning. But he pitched tremendous baseball today.”
You’ve come to expect these kind of games from him?
“Every time out. It’s a shame that the last couple of outings, Woody (Alex Wood) last night and today, we didn’t get a W on it, because those starting pitchers pitched very, very good baseball.”
One error doesn’t typically seal a team’s fate, but when you’re not scoring runs like you guys aren’t…
“Yeah, that (Justin Upton error) kept that inning going, and they split the gap and got two more. We’re human. People make errors. Nobody’s going to feel any worse than Justin, but he makes that play 100 out of 100 times. He’s coming in hard to try to get it, and it just bounced off his glove. I’m sure he’s at his locker now not feeling real good about it. You’re right – you compound it when you’re not scoring many runs, it makes it even more glaring.”
You got a couple of two-out RBI hits in the third and it looked like it might be enough the way Teheran was going
“Yeah, I thought we had some good at-bats. We got some guys on, Gosselin gets an RBI single there, and an RBI double by Freeman. We just couldn’t put a big number up, and they did. They did in the sixth inning.”
On some balls that didn’t seem to carry well today
“Some balls were hit pretty good, and for a stadium that has a reputation as being a pretty good hitters ballpark, it sure hasn’t felt that way. I thought Chris Johnson’s ball there in the ninth inning, and there was one hit to right-center by Freeman, I thought it had a chance. And they hit a couple. I don’t know if it was just the weather, a little colder in September. But for a stadium with a reputation for the ball carrying, it certainly hasn’t done that.”
On the wild card
“We’ll watch TV and see what the Pirates do, and come back out tomorrow.”
On Evan Gattis’ continued absence with strep throat
“I don’t think we’re going to see him at all this series. His symptoms are still there. We’ll just take it day by day.”
Still just strep?
“Yeah, the symptoms are still there.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
Did the glare from sun through overcast sky contribute at all to the error?
“Can’t use it as an excuse. But, I mean, it’s bright and they’ve got the cement (stadium interior structure). I had to hang back a second to let it come out of the bright visual. I just misplayed it. I make that play every day. It just hit off the heel of my glove.”
One error can usually be overcome, but seems like if something can go wrong at this point for you guys, it does
“At this point we’ve got to pick ourselves up. We’ve just got to try to rally around what we can.”
You guys hit some balls hard, did it seem like they weren’t carrying well?
“Who knows, we don’t play here enough to know if it’s carry or not. We sprayed some balls and had some good at-bats, but at the end of the day, they’re not hits. So it didn’t help us out.”
On Teheran pitching his rear end off
“Yeah, Julio pitched really well. It’s just unfortunate, man. He made some good pitches, got out of some situations we put him in, and we couldn’t score another run to tie it up. It’s rough. He’s been pretty much lights-out all year, giving us a chance to win almost every time out. I feel like he deserved to win this one.”
What’s holding back this offense?
“Gotta get hits, have good at-bats, get on base, whether it’s a walk or a base hit, and we’ve got to get the big hit. That’s how it always has to work. We just haven’t been doing that, and our run production has kind of showed that.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On losing no-hitter, then the game
“I’m not disappointed. I know I had a no-hitter going. I was just trying to keep the lead and win the game. After that, just try to control what I could control, and that’s what I did the whole game.”
Did you feel good early on?
“Yeah, the whole game I felt good. Other than a couple of mistakes where I fell behind in counts, I felt good.”
You seem to handle it well when something happens out of your control, like the dropped ball
“I just try to control what I can, keep focused on the game and don’t let that kind of stuff bother me. Like I said, trying to control what I can, throw the ball and make pitches.”
So you avoid putting blame on anyone, like Justin for the error?
“Yeah, I don’t blame him. It’s a difficult game and I know sometimes you’ve just got to understand that.”
