CHICAGO — Braves quotes from Chris Johnson, Mike Minor, Justin Upton and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Saturday’s 11-6 win against the Cubs.
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On hitting two homers on a windy day at Wrigley
“It was one of those days where you get the ball up in the air and it keeps traveling. Mike battled. It’s a tough place to pitch on days like this, but he battled his butt off and kept us in the game, and we were able to get enough.”
You think he might have pitched a little better than his line indicates?
“Absolutely. Some of their hits dropped in, and some of the balls got up in the wind and carried a little bit. Couple of swinging bunts. But other than that, he battled. Can’t take anything away from them, they scored some runs off of him and came up with some timely hits. But we’ll take the win.”
On getting a couple of homers after hitting two since third game of the season
“That’s just another step in my game that I’m trying to work on, is that power stroke. I’m not trying to hit home runs. I think I got the first one pretty good. The second one was just a line drive.”
**MIKE MINOR
Nice to talk about hitting a home run and not giving one up?
“Yeah, but I still didn’t pitch very well… Well, I don’t know. They hit some good pitches today, and then I had a couple of swinging bunts. But I think it evened out, because they hit some balls on the screws that went right at guys. But it was one of those days where I feel like I made some good pitches, they just got hit.”
On getting a win, snapping nine-start winless streak
“It’s been a while. But the wins will come, like I say, if I pitch well.”
On finishing strong with 1-2-3 sixth inning
“There was some frustration (giving up three runs in the fifth), but overall the result, the team winning, is what’s important.”
On his only previous home run at New York last season
“The other one surprised me, because I didn’t think I could hit the ball like that. Today, I felt like I just stayed back a little bit more, because he threw me the same pitch in the first at-bat and I always come around it. But it was one of those days where I felt like I was seeing the ball good, got lucky and hit it.”
Big homer because it extended the inning and you got three more runs that inning
“Like I said, just lucky. It’s not like the pitcher is going to hit a home run all the time.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On the wind, how did it affect you in the outfield
“Geez. You would get an initial read on the ball and then it would take off on you. It’s something you have to know. We knew the wind was blowing out by the way the ball was carrying. It’s just, your eyes tell you something different.”
On the offense
“We came out and were able to score a couple of runs, then didn’t stop from there. So that was a good thing. We just kept swinging, getting hits when we needed to with runners in scoring position. That’s something we haven’t done much lately. It definitely helps when you get those runs in.”
On C.J.’s two homers today, after team had one in past 12 games
“We know what he’s capable of doing power-wise, it just hasn’t come together for him. But hopefully this can be the start of something.”
** FREDI GONZALEZ
On Chris Johnson’s two homers and the win
“We talked about his last at-bat yesterday, when he lined out to the shortstop and I said maybe that would get him going. Today was one of those days where we needed all the offense we could get, because the wind was blowing out. It was typical Wrigley Field with the wind blowing out – you never felt comfortable. You could tell the way some of the balls (carried), some of the routes our outfielders were running. Because the ball just kept traveling.”
“Mikey battled. He got victimized by a couple of slow-roller base hits to third base. And they got some balls into the gap. But today might have been one of those starts that he just battled every inning. Nothing came easy today, partly (due to) the wind blowing. I was glad that we were able to get our bats going and get him a W.”
On Minor finshing strong
“He got himself in some trouble in the fifth inning, but it was nice to run him back out there in the sixth and he went 1-2-3 in that inning.”
More on the offense
“C.J. a couple of home runs, Justin started swinging the bat; I thought the last couple of days he’s hit the ball right on the nose a couple of times and not got anything for it. Today some of the balls fell through and that’s a good sign. B.J. had a double, Simmons a couple of hits, Heyward a couple of hits. So there was some production with the offense.”
On Heyward hitting third double in two days, all to center or opposite-field to left
“We get him going and that’s a nice offense we run out there.”
Seemed like all three of your team’s homers were legit, wind or not
“Right, both balls that C.J. hit were good. Even Minor got one. He’s a hell of an athlete. How about the chopper, I think in the sixth inning, over behind the mound? He made a hell of a play on that ball.”
On Minor getting through six innings
“It was crucial, because yesterday we spent our bullpen trying to stay within one run or a tie game, so we had some guys we were trying to stay off (not use). They weren’t unavailable, but we were trying to get guys like (Shae) Simmons a day after going 1 2/3 innings, and not put him in a position where he could hurt himself. So it was nice for Mikey to give us six, and then David (Hale) and (David) Carpenter to give us those last three innings. So we didn’t have to use Kimbrel in the ninth inning or some of those other guys.”
