FREDI GONZALEZ
On Uggla’s injury:
“He’s day to day. It’s a left calf strain. He had it a couple years ago and he kind of played through it. For Danny to tap you on the shoulder and say hey my leg hurts, first of all it was smart on his part with the weather being so cold and he felt something there and we didn’t want something that could be gone in two or three days be severe with a calf injury. He’s day to day.”
On if he did it running up the line:
“Yeah you’ve been around Danny enough, it’s going to take something sticking out of his leg for him to come out. It was smart on his part.”
On if tone was set in the second inning get bases loaded and only one run:
“We get McDonald on the ropes there. Instead of getting a big crooked number up, maybe even get him out of there in the second inning, we let him wiggle out of it and we only got one run. I thought Paul (Maholm( did a nice job. (Cory) Gearrin did a nice job in the seventh to get a double play ball that’s what he’s supposed to do and (Jordan) Walden did too.
On the lack of offense:
“I thought we hit the ball well at times. Justin (Upton) hit a ball to right field, guy made a nice play on. And BJ (Upton) hit the ball all the way to the warning track, if he doesn’t catch it, it’s a home run. So we’re just not getting those good at-bats consistently. Chris Johnson got a couple hits today but anyway. We’ve got to score runs.”
On if last three, four days something that happens:
“The offense you look at the (17 games) we’ve played. We’re not hitting on all cylinders but our good starting pitching and a good bullpen has covered it up a little bit. Now you run into a club that’s got as good a pitching going right now, you’ve got to score runs. We sit back and talk about what do you like about your club, I say we pitch. And we match up zeros. The offense, we just haven’t swung the bats like we’re capable of and we’re still won 13 games. For me it’s just around the corner.”
DAN UGGLA
On his calf injury:
“It’s nothing big, but it was enough to where it could have gotten real bad if I stayed in. I tried to loosen it up once I got back to the dugout and it wouldn’t loosen up. I was like ‘It’s cold. Let’s just go in and get it taken care of so hopefully it’ll only be a day.’”
On if he did it running up the line:
“Yeah. When I stopped and I was walking back to the dugout I felt it. it was similar to what I had two years ago when I strained my calf out there (in Colorado) and I continued to play on it out there. I probably aggravated it more. Tonight it was enough to where I knew that it could have gotten real bad.”
CHRIS JOHNSON
On the offense going through tough stretch:
“We’ve had a couple days where we can’t come up with that big hit. We had a chance to get a little shorter with Justin on base late in the game, I pulled off the ball a little bit. We’ll be all right, we’ve just got to try to focus in and get some of those hits when we get guys on base.”
On just look at it as a tough four-game stretch:
“Sometimes you go against pitchers who are dialed in a little bit. We got him a little bit early and kind of let him off the hook and he settled in pretty well. Yeah I don’t think we’re too worried about scoring runs. I think over the course of the season we’re going to score some runs. We’ve just go to get the big hit when we’ve got guys on base and we’ll be fine.”
On tough for Maholm:
“He gave up three runs, so it’s not like he threw bad. He threw well. He kept us in the ballgame and we let him down tonight.”
On McDonald:
“After he settled in he started throwing his fastball on both sides of the plate. He has that big curveball, that when he starts throwing that for strikes he’s kind of tough. Tip your cap to him and try to go out and even the series tomorrow.”
PAUL MAHOLM
On one of those games where a couple pitches cost him:
“Yeah, I felt good. Obviously walking the leadoff guy in the sixth and then making two bad pitches and give up three runs. Like I said I was going to give up some runs, unfortunately we didn’t score enough to cover it. It was just too bad pitch selections on me for McCutchen and Gaby. That’s part of it. Move on and come back tomorrow.”
On what didn’t like about the selections:
“I throw a fastball in and it’s one of the only pitches he can do damage on and he did it. And Cutch, obviously I got him out earlier on a fastball away but that one wasn’t executed very well. So it’s more of execution than anything. Skated by the first few outings without really making any mistakes and I made two today.”
On if almost tougher kind of outing to walk away from:
“I second-guess every time I give up runs and take a loss. Obviously there was the one inning that I skated through and got out of it and in the sixth I just didn’t make the pitches.”
On if thought about walking one of those two guys:
“No, it was just execution. Obviously I’m trying to make a pitch and if make the pitch down and away or miss in like I was trying to do with Gaby, it’s probably a different outcome. It’s part of the game. You’re going to miss a pitch, and sometimes the hitters miss it and pop it up or foul it off and today they did some damage with it.”
On if trying to get Marte to chase in the sixth:
“The first two pitches he chased. It was more or less just trying to be perfect and not really throwing the pitches that I thought. The 3-2 pitch was pretty close and I just barely missed. You shouldn’t go 0-2 on a guy and then walk him. And obviously I wasn’t very happy with myself after that and then to give up three runs because of it was not really the outcome we were looking for.”
On giving up the one run to end the streak if hard to re-focus:
“I was going to give up a run. I wasn’t really worried about the streak. It was going to happen. I wish it would have happened to where we scored five and I gave up three and we win. I wasn’t worried about the streak. I was more ticked with not being able to execute a couple pitches when I needed to.”
On if familiarity with Pirates makes it tougher:
“Obviously they know me but the first five innings I cruised through. It just goes back to executed a pitch. The walk to Marte and (pitches to) Cutch and Gaby I didn’t execute it and no matter if I face them or any other team it’s going to happen.”
