Braves quotes after Saturday’s win against Reds

On Mike Minor’s performance

“Minor was outstanding after getting out of that first inning with (one out) and the bases loaded. What a great outing for him.”

On Constanza going 3-for-4 in leadoff spot

“The last couple of years, every time we’ve brought him up during certain situations in the course of the year, he’s kind of energized us. He gets on base, he bunted for a base hit, he did a nice job (hitting behind) the runner going to third. He’s a guy that we wanted a little spark, and he brought that.”

On getting seven hits from the fill-in outfielders

“The Skipper (Bobby Cox) used to tell me, in this game you never know when you’re going to win a game and when you’re going to lose a game. You just never know. I think Vegas lost a lot of money today if they saw our lineup and the guys we ran out there. But you can’t judge and handicap heart and putting the ball in play. That’s a good trait some of these guys have. They got an opportunity to play. Reed Johnson, and Terdo in his first start in the major leagues. They did a nice job.”

**DAN UGGLA

On seven hits from the backup outfield trio

“That just shows you how deep we are. Everybody has seen what Constanza can do. Everybody knows what a pro Reeder is. People are going to find out real quick how good a hitter Terdoslavich is. They did a great job.”

On homers by McCann and Uggla

“McCann’s really been hot the last few weeks. He did it again today. I was fortunate to put one on the board.”

On Minor settling down after first couple of innings

“Apparently they’re pretty good in the first inning. He shut them down, though. Kept us in it, and pitched a great game.”

**MIKE MINOR

On going seven innings

“I felt like if I attacked them with strikes and got through it with some groundballs, some early outs, that I could go a little deeper.”

On pitching here instead of Cincinnati’s bandbox ballpark

“I think that (double) by Heisey might have got out (in Cincy) and maybe the one later on in the game that Reed caught may have got out.”

Any adjustment after first couple innings?

“I felt good the whole time. I felt like I was making quality pitches, they were just hitting them. So I really wasn’t pressing or anything, or trying to do anything different.”

On the three backup outfielders coming through big

“To be honest, it doesn’t really do anything for me, because I’ve started a lot of games where we put in our bench guys, and they’ve put up a lot of runs this year. So it wasn’t really like, ‘Oh, no, we’ve got a lot of guys going down.’ We will miss those guys, and hopefully they’re back after the All-Star break. But I have confidence in our bench guys, too.”

On his two-run double down the third-base and left-field line

“The way he was throwing, he wasn’t going to get the ball by me.” (Joking)

On his slide into second

“Yeah, I had to look athletic. I didn’t want it to look like I got lucky (on the double).”

**JOSE CONSTANZA

On being back up with the big club

“I’m very happy to be here. This is where everybody wants to be.”

On contributing three hits in his first day back with the team

“That’s part of my game, make contact, put the ball in play. Try to help the team win games.”

With everyone lamenting loss of the starting outfielders, you determined to show what you could do?

“I feel bad for them, being hurt. That’s not a good way to get called up. I was just ready to come up here and help the team win.”

**BRIAN McCANN

On getting four runs off Bailey in seven innings

“He started leaving pitches up. He attacked us from pitch 1 with his fastball, started the game off throwing 95, 96. And then later on the in game he started missing out over the plate some with his fastball. We were laying off some tough off-speed pitches. I think that was the reason we put some runs on the board against him.”

On Minor settling down after the second inning

“That’s what he’s been doing all year. He never gets frustrated. I think that’s kind of when he took the next step and became a top-of-the-rotation pitcher, when he stopped letting little things get to him. He’s been doing that for over a year now, and he’s been one of the better pitchers in baseball.”

On three fill-in outfielders getting seven hits

“Huge. That’s what we’re going to need while our outfield is healing up. We’re going to need guys to step up, get big hits. Reed made an unbelievable play on Jay Bruce in the eighth there, and that was the game.”

**REED JOHNSON

On three outfield fill-ins getting seven of team’s 11 hits

“That was good. Anytime something like that happens – and it’s bound to happen throughout the year; you’re playing so many games, you’re going to have to go through some spurts without your big boys, and we were able to step up and do a pretty good job today. At the same time, we realize we need those guys back for the long haul, and it looks like all three of them have some kind of minor things going on, so hopefully with the All-Star break and a few days off it’ll help them out quite a bit.”

On his big catch at the wall to rob Jay Bruce with 2 on in eighth

“Yeah, I misread a ball earlier I the game. It’s a little tough to see – it’s so hot here, you’ve got so many white shirts (in the crowd). Constanza was saying the same thing, he was having a little trouble picking up the ball. I was fortunate in that situation I was playing a little deeper, too. We’re almost in a no-doubles situation, trying to keep that tying run off second base. So fortunately we were a little deeper and I was able to make a play that’s probably normally a double, make it almost a routine catch.”

On Minor

“I feel like our pitching staff as a whole, if they get out of the first or second inning unscathed, they start cruising. You saw Meds have some trouble early and start to figure it out towards the middle of the game. If we can get out of those first couple of innings with those guys keeping it close or with the lead, I feel like we have a pretty good chance.”