LOS ANGELES -- Braves quotes after Friday night’s 7-3 loss at Dodger Stadium, where they gave up five homers including three in 4 2/3 innings off starter Brandon McCarthy.
** BRIAN SNITKER
On McCarthy’s problem tonight
“I would say missed location, pretty much. And it’s a really hot team. They’ve been scoring a lot of runs and we just got hurt, that’s pretty much it.”
On Dodgers’ 22 homers in seven games this month
“Yeah, a lot of two-out homers. You miss location against a hot team like that, that’s going to happen.”
Every time Braves would chip away and get a run, Dodgers answered
“You’re right. I thought maybe when they went to the bullpen a little early, we had a chance to maybe put something together. They did a good job of holding us and they kept adding on. Which is what you need to do.”
On Dodgers starter Walker Buehler
“Good. Really good. Nice arm. I don’t know what happened that he came out (bruised ribs), but I like him a lot.”
Braves getting Ronald Acuna, Mike Soroka back soon, do you feel good about that despite team’s recent struggles?
“Yeah, I do. Like I’ve said before, you’re going to run into stretches like that over the course of a long season. You’ve just got to keep fighting through it, whether it’s a road trip or a homestand or whatever it is, you just keep grinding, fighting through it, come out tomorrow and win a game.”
**BRANDON McCARTHY
Do you look at this one as just being a matter of a couple of poorly located pitches?
“Three really terrible pitches to a team that’s not missing terrible pitches right now. I mean, that pretty much sums up my crap outing.”
On Dodgers’ seeing ball well lately
“Yeah, it kind of continued today.”
Braves have bounced back from earlier rough periods, is that at least encouraging during this latest slump?
“Yeah, I mean we’re not getting trounced. We’re not overmatched. That’s a game where a couple of hits here and there go our way and all of a sudden we’re back and we’re still playing right now. A few inches here and there. If you’re losing 11-1 every night then you know you’re really running into something. But right now everyone’s fighting for more wins than 81 and games like this sometimes don’t go your way. But we’ll get back.”
On home runs affecting him more than usual lately
“Yeah, I mean it feels like it’s been a lot of home runs; the home runs have been earned, they’re struck well. But I feel like I’ve given up a lot of crappy hits too. I guess it’s one or the other. Just pitch well, the whole probably has to be better to avoid both of those things happening.”
Do you feel like you’ve pitched better than the somewhat short sample size might indicate numbers-wise?
“Yeah. I feel like that’s a thing to make myself feel better, but I definitely don’t feel like I’ve pitched wherever my numbers are. I feel like I’ve thrown pretty well, it just hasn’t all kind of come together. Today is just a day at the end of the season you just chalk it up to being a bad day. I didn’t feel fresh; everything was just a bit off. A lot of the other ones, it hasn’t felt that way. So I’d say I’ve thrown better than it’s shown, but it’s up to me to make the results follow the way that feels.”
**DANSBY SWANSON
On Dodgers starter Walker Buehler, Swanson’s former Vanderbilt teammate
“He’s always been a special talent. He’s a phenomenal competitor; that was one of my favorite things when I played behind him, because he was such a good competitor. He definitely believes in himself. Similar stuff, he’s just gotten older and gotten better, too.”
On Buehler’s Kershaw-like numbers this season at Dodger Stadium
“He’s thrown the ball well. He’s got a live fastball and a good slider and a good feel for his curveball too. And today I think he mixed in some change-ups and they’ve done a really good job with him.”
On all the ground-outs Walker got early
“I think what he did today was miss just a few barrels, kind of resulted in some ground balls. Fastball’s got good life to it and it’ll get on you quick.”
On facing Dodgers switch-pitcher Pat Venditte
“I can say that’s a first. Actually, I take that back, we had a kid at Vandy that switch-pitched for a little bit. Honestly, it’s kind of cool. Same stuff you did in Wiffle Ball when you were a kid.”
On Dodgers hitting five homers
“Any time a pitch was over the middle it felt like they were putting a good swing on it. Credit to them for that. I mean, honestly I thought our pitchers threw fine, just a couple of pitches that they hit. That’s the game of baseball. I thought we even swung the bats decent and had nothing to show for it.”
On recent team struggles
“That’s baseball. I don’t know what game we’re on now, but that’s how it goes, ebbs and flows. We’ll just continue to battle through it and come out tomorrow and look to make a difference.”
