NEW YORK — Braves quotes from Mike Foltynewicz, Jace Peterson and Fredi Gonzalez after Sunday’s 10-8 loss to the Mets.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
Could you tell Folty didn’t have it early on today?
“Yeah. I mean, we gave him…we score some runs early and we just couldn’t stop them from scoring.”
Discouraging at all with him, because his first few starts he seemed to progress each time, but since then he’s struggled a lot
“It’s a learning thing. You’re going to have some good starts and you’re going to have some bad starts. Today was a chance to get one game closer in the division and win the series, like always preach. We gave him some runs, we just couldn’t stop them from scoring.”
Is it disheartening, or do you feel or hope you have the right guys to get it fixed?
“We go to Boston tomorrow, maybe we can get a couple of wins there and get back home on a winning note.”
Anything in particular that you can see wrong with Folty lately?
“I think it’s just experience. Run him out there every fifth day and make his turn, and hopefully he keeps getting better.”
Meanwhile, your offense keeps scoring plenty of runs
“Proud of them. I mean, really, every other aspect of our game has been pretty solid. We’ve just got to figure out how we can stop the opponent from scoring some runs.”
Figure out what you’re going to do tomorrow, will Williams Perez start?
“Yeah, he’s going to start. We’ll probably monitor him a little bit, but we’ll give him the ball.”
Does it get frustrating for you, you’ve tried different things in the bullpen….
“Well, there’s more things to try. More combinations, other stuff to try. We’ll try to figure it out.”
**MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ
Could you tell in bullpen before game that it might be a struggle for you today?
“Yeah, I just didn’t have it today, period. When a team gives you a five-run lead like that you’ve got to take advantage of it. I didn’t do that today. Just left everything up, really, from the start. Fastballs, curveballs, slider, even change-ups were up today. And they hit it. So I just have to take that to the next couple of days and work and get better.”
Looked like the slider has bothered you last couple of games, and even the curveball today
“Yeah, I threw a couple of good curveballs, but with two strikes I just left everything in the zone. I think I’m trying to overthrow the slider a little bit and leaving it up in the zone. Just didn’t do a good job of executing anything today.”
Do you look at this as, even the best pitchers go through stretches like this early in their careers, and it’s inevitable that you’re going to have periods where you can’t figure things out?
“Yeah, I mean, you’re not going to be perfect. If it was that easy, everybody would be doing it. Just going through a rough spot right now. I know my capabilities, so I’ve just got to go out there and get that confidence back a little bit, and just go out there and attack guys. It seems like a broken record the past three starts, but I just have to go up there and keep attacking, get the confidence back up and battle.”
Do you think the performance of the starter ca affect the bullpen when they’ve been struggled already, too?
“I just didn’t get the job done. I have all the confidence in the world when it comes to the bullpen coming in and saving me. But even they are going to have bad days, just like us. The offense came to work today. They give you a five-run lead, you’ve got to take advantage of it. I didn’t do that today. I felt like I let the team down.”
**JACE PETERSON
Is it frustrating when the offense scores plenty of runs even in most recent losses?
“We’ve been swinging the bat pretty well as a team. Our guys are putting together good at-bats. I think our (pitching) staff is doing their job of competing and keeping us in there. Every day we’re coming to work, and we know that eventually it’s going to flip.”
Do you feel like the top half of the lineup in particular has come together? You three are all producing at the same time, do your feel like you can go a long way with that?
“Yeah, I think so. Everybody in the lineup has confidence in each other. That’s the main thing, if everyone stays within themselves and does their job, I think we’ll string together some more games like this.”
You hitters seem to have done as good a job as anyone could at not pointing fingers at pitching staff during their struggles
“Yeah, when you play a team sport there’s no time to do that. If you are pointing fingers, it’s kind of cliché, but you’ve got more pointing back at you. At the end of the day, everybody’s doing their job, everybody’s competing, everybody’s working. That’s all you can ask for. I think the guys are making good pitches, unfortunately it’s not going well for them right now. I know that they’re going to continue to work and it’s going to flip.”
