PHILADELPHIA — Braves quotes from Chris Johnson, Jonny Gomes, Shelby Miller and Fredi Gonzalez after Saturday’s 5-2 win over the Phillies.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On what he liked about the win
“I liked the way we battled. We battled right from the very beginning. Buchanan had a no-hitter going. He was giving us a hard time. All of a sudden we get on the board. But then the at-bats became….man, oh man, great at-bats. Jonny Gomes’ two-out walk got us going. Some great at-bats against Diekman. Pierzysnki got a big RBI single there against maybe the premier left-hander, at least in our league. He gets our left-handers out all the time. C.J. coming off the bench and facing him, getting a big knock there. I just like the way we battled against a tough reliever and got the win.”
On Shelby Miller’s performance
“You hated to pinch-hit for him, because he was that good. But as we know, and as has history has proven to us, especially in this ballpark, if you’ve got a chance to add on, you add on. And so we did that. But Shelby, shoot, his last couple of outings have been solid outings, and he gave us a great opportunity to win a ballgame.”
On shaking up lineup, getting some results from Markakis at leadoff and Simmons in 2-hole
“We talked about that (with reporters) earlier today, the thinking behind that. And we got some guys on base, some people in positions you want to get them into. And I think the bottom of the lineup did nice. EY got a knock, stole a base. So we go on. Too bad tomorrow’s a day game because it might’ve been the first day we go back-to-back with the same lineup. But I think we’re going to give Pierzynski a day off tomorrow. We don’t want to run him into the ground.”
On the two-out walks and hits
“That’s what you’re looking for. You’re looking for the grinding-type of at-bats that Jonny Gomes gave you, that Pierzysnki at-bat. Up and down the lineup, especially late in the game against tough relievers. I like the way we did that, and battled.”
On Gomes’ throw to second and Kelly Johnson’s tag
“Gomes made the nice throw, and Kelly went and got the ball and then sold his body out to try to make the play. Nicky made a couple of nice defensive plays in the outfield. So it was a good, solid effort.”
**JONNY GOMES
On getting some big two-out walks and hits to rally back for win, snapping skid
“Yeah, I think most of our losses on this trip, we haven’t had our doors blown off. All due respect to the other teams, but I think we’ve been kind of beating ourselves. A loss is a loss, tip your cap to the other team. But get back to fundamentals, get back to situational hitting and we’ll be alright. And we were able to turn the page and do that tonight.”
On two-out hits
“We’ve had some success at it early this season. It’s hard to get a two-out RBI with no one on. We just needed some guys on. With that being said, the way we’ve been running the bases, taking the extra base, being aggressive, I think the key actually for us is back-to-back hits. Hit, hit, hit. Three or four base runners in a row. We’ve been capitalizing on two-out walks. We did that.”
On Chris Johnson’s crucial pinch-hit single
“I’m fired up about that. Obviously I have a soft spot in my heart for pinch-hitting. I think as a club we’ve been doing a great job with that, and that’s a tough situation. Pinch-hitting against velocity is really tough, That guys throws hard, big wash-out slider, and C.J. put together a heck of an at-bat.”
On Kelly’s tag on Gomes’ throw from left to second
“That was it, Kelly sticking his nose in on that. That’s really the key, bigger key than the throw. I mean, the defense is pretty light on their feet and aggressive when you’re behind a guy like Shelby Miller, mowing them down. Good pitching leads to good defense, and you saw it tonight.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
Nice time for your first homer, huh? Big spot
“At the moment, yeah. I’m just glad it got the inning started, and the guys did a great job keeping the inning alive. Big hits all around, big at-bats. C.J. with a pinch hit, that was huge. Everybody did a great job today, picking up after that fifth or sixth inning. They really turned it around.”
On not hanging heads and getting down after being shut out Friday and being down 2-0 through six
“Yeah, it was a little tough, just a little bad luck, couple of guys smoked a ball right at some one, or guys making great plays. At the moment it felt like it just wasn’t going our way. Glad it turned around.”
**SHELBY MILLER
On his performance and the win
“We made a lot of good pitches, A.J. called a good game behind the plate and they made some great plays out in the outfield that were huge. And all around just played good defense, and the offense obviously came through and won the ballgame today.”
On what was working tonight
“I felt good. It felt like we did a good job locating the ball. Pretty much everything was working. Cutter, curveball was good, sinker was good. Just the one I kind of left over the middle, middle-away to Howard, obviously he’s a strong guy and put a good swing on that ball. It was a mistake pitch, guys like that are more than likely to hit a home run, or do something to his capabilities. A guy that’s been around, a big league hitter, doing what he does to pitches like that.”
On being efficient, in position to go seven or eight innings if didn’t need to pinch-hit for him
“I felt strong. You always want to go as deep as possible, but at the same time we’re trying to get runs. I completely understand that. There’s no doubt that we’re trying to get more runs right there. Do I want to go longer? Of course. Every pitcher would say that. But at the same time, we’re trying to win a ballgame here. That was a huge inning for us, getting those three runs, and then they tacked on some more at the end, which was great. Like I said, the offense did a great job. I tip my cap to them for picking us up.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On getting big pinch hit against a hard-throwing, tough left (Diekman)
“I was ready though. I stayed ready. Saw him getting up in the bullpen. I knew that’s their only lefty, so it probably would have been one of my only chances to get in there. I was down hitting in the cage before that. Just tried to get a pitch to hit. He started me off with a fastball in, foul-tipped it. And then he threw a curveball that I missed. Then I was just battling, trying to get it in play.”
On getting behind 0-2 but being more patient or relaxed than you might’ve been in past
“Yeah, I was trying to relax. When I get in a two-strike count I’m trying to relax and put the ball in play, give yourself a chance really rather than strike out.”
Team bounced back after some pretty difficult losses the past four games
“Yeah, but we’ve got a pretty good group. Everybody came in today and everybody was pretty upbeat, the same old routine. I don’t see this team as being team that’s going to get down on itself or quit. We’ve got too many guys that are out there fighting – really fighting to get in there every day, or fighting to prove something, or fighting to stay up here, all that kind of stuff. So we’ve got a lot of guys who are not going to give up.”
On Gomes’ comment about being ‘fired up’ about Johnson getting pinch-hit against upper-90s throwing lefty
“You don’t face too many lefties like that. Just him and Chapman, really, who get up into that upper 90s and 100 (mph) area. He’s tough. He’s a tough guy. I don’t think I’ve had too much success against Diekman, but he’s tough.”
