Braves quotes from Julio Teheran, Justin Upton, Chris Johnson and manager Fredi Gonzalez following Saturday’s 3-1 loss to the Giants, the fifth consecutive defeat for Atlanta.
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On wasted chances
“Same story as last night. Had guys on; we left a lot of guys on, myself included. Can’t win a ballgame when you leave guys on base. We had a lot of opportunities. We’ve just got to keep grinding and try to get that big hit.”
On mood of team
“Offensively, it’s a little frustration. A lot of us want to be that guy to get the big hit and get us going. We’ve been struggling.”
On focus being on their struggles with runners in scoring position
“When you lose it’s probably because you’re not coming up with those big hits when guys are in scoring position, and that’s why we’re losing ballgames. We had a lot of chances. Two hits – we get guys first and second, bases loaded, we get two hits and we beat them. We beat them by a couple of runs. But we’re not doing that right now, and that’s why we’re losing. It’s the offense’s fault mostly.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On the skid, which started against some really good pitchers
“Sometimes you’re going to go out and get beat by good pitching. We’ve done that as of late. We have to find a way to scratch across more runs than we’re scratching across right now.”
On failing to drive in runs when so many are on base
“We’re giving ourselves plenty of opportunities to drive in runs. We just haven’t done it. We haven’t come up with that big hit. That can doom you sometimes, because when you’re facing good pitching, you get those runners out there, those are times that you have to score. You don’t know when you’re going to get more guys out there.”
On Lincecum and Vogelson shutting them down pretty much, despite modest ERAs coming in
“Those are two guys that are capable of coming out any time and having a good outing. They’re effective pitchers; they have been in the past. You can’t look at the numbers. When they have their stuff and they’re locating, they can beat anybody. We just have to do a little better job at what we’re capable of doing.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On the loss
“We left seven guys on base today. They say solo home runs don’t beat you; well they beat us two nights in a row, with two yesterday and three today. We’re getting people on base, now we’ve got to get them in.”
“I thought Julio pitched pretty good, gave up three runs. Yesterday Minor pitched really good, gave up two runs. We’ve just got to get our offense going. Our offense has got to help us out a little bit. Guys are going out there, getting a couple of guys on base, then we hit into a double play. What did we hit into, three (double plays) today? We hit into two, and then the strike ‘em out, throw ‘em out.”
On struggling offensively despite having several really good hitters in lineup
“It’s a talented group of guys, the same guys that in April scored some runs. So we’ll keep running them out there, and hopefully do something to keep the line moving a little bit.”
Frustrate you to see them struggling like this?
“Yeah, it does. Because we’re such a talented group, and it seems like we get a guy on an inning, we just can’t get them to home plate.”
Seem like guys pressing? Like Gattis, swings at that high pitch when Freeman gets thrown out for double play
“That 3-2 pitch. There I’m thinking just put the ball in play, I’m not thinking we’re going to double steal or do anything crazy. Just put the ball in play, give us another run. He swings at ball four. We had a couple of guys today swing at pitches way out of the strike zone. That’s something that we need to talk about. I don’t know if it’s pressing; I know everybody wants to do well. But usually when teams go in slumps or individuals slump, usually the first thing you look at is swinging at pitches out of the strike zone. And just thinking about three or four occasions today, we did that.
“We’ll look at it — I’m sure Walk (Greg Walker) is as frustrated as we are – and get ‘em going.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On 3 solo homers
“I think they are very good hitters and I made mistakes and paid for it. That was the three homers, three mistakes that I made. They were the pitches that I wanted to throw. I just have to tip my hat.”
“I made three mistakes that cost me three runs. Couple of mistakes can cost you the game.”
On lack of run support
“That’s part of the game. Sometimes we don’t have the run support. If we don’t hold (down the opponent in those games,) that’s when we lose the game.”
“I was trying to hold them. I made a bad pitch and he got me.”
