Braves quotes from Shelby Miller, Freddie Freeman and Fredi Gonzalez after Sunday’s 9-5 loss to the Marlins.
** SHELBY MILLER
On Justin Bour, who had four homers in series including two Sunday (one off Miller)
“There’s no doubt he’s locked in. I guess you can’t really say that now, because he’s been doing it kind of all season. He’s got 24 homers now. Obviously a lot of talent there. I think the Marlins can say they found a first baseman, for sure. He’s a guy that looks like he’s not going to be going anywhere. Tremendous talent.”
On giving Marlins some extra outs
“Yeah, I mean, the biggest thing is I’ve given up so many hits trying to go away to righties or in to lefties and leaving the ball over the middle of the plate. It happened with the last double I gave up, it got pulled, the one to Yelich off the wall. I throw a split and a nasty sinker, then throw a ball right down the middle and he hits a double after two great pitches. So it’s just about kind of finishing at-bats, sticking to the game plan and executing pitches. And the end of the day you can’t take away from what they’re doing, they’re swinging it well, they’re playing as a team, really good, and that’s what you want to see.”
On facing Cardinals in his last start of the season
“It’ll be fun. It’ll be like last night. Obviously they’re going to be throwing their (top) guys out there, too. I mean, the second-to-the-last game of the year, I understand that. I understand sometimes teams clinch and throw some of their bench guys out there. But they’re still in the hunt, so you’ve got to be ready to go, and we will be, and finish the season strong.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
Too much (Justin) Bour in this series?
“Bour, he’s a big strong boy. Some of those pitches I know we missed location with Shelby, but they’re up (in the zone) and that’s where we want to get him. It seems like he cuts his swing down with two strikes, and he’s a big, strong guy. This ballpark, for as big as it is, it doesn’t hold him. I tell you what, they’ve got a pretty good lineup over there, and when the big boy (Stanton) comes back…. (Adeiny) Hechavarria didn’t even play. They’re a very formidable team going into next year.”
On giving away some outs today with mistakes
“We really shot ourselves in the foot a couple of different times. I know Dee Gordon is (fast), and that’s what happens when you’ve got speed, it makes you make (defensive) mistakes. We made one yesterday and also today with him at the plate, almost the same thing. That’s the nice thing about having speed, it comes to the ballpark every single day. You put the ball in play, you make things happen. But yeah, we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times. As good as this road trip started with the great series we had in New York, we didn’t play particularly well here in Miami. So, off day tomorrow, we’ve got six games at home. Hopefully we get to win a couple of series and call it a year.”
On Freeman coming out of game, was wrist starting to bother him more?
“Yeah, his wrist is day-to-day. Sometimes it bites him. Sometimes he’s had great games like he did in New York and here (Friday) when he hit a home run and drove in some runs. Sometimes it just gets him. He’s going to go see Dr. (Gary) Lourie (Braves hand specialist) tomorrow and just take a look at it, see what we can do. We’ll have more about it on Tuesday, for sure.”
Does it hurt more on line drives?
“No. The check swings. The swings-and-misses. Even the home run that he hit, he even squared that ball up, it just bothers him sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. He tried to play through it, grin and bear it, but today was just a little bit too much and I didn’t want to continue running him out there.”
So his status remains the same, take it day by day, try to play rest of season?
“Yeah, let’s just call it day to day. Because he’s going to come in Tuesday after he sees the doctor, and unless something really crazy happens he’s going to beg to get in the lineup. So we’ll call it day to day right now.”
On Shelby Miller
“I saw a young man that, he’s human. We talked about it in the postgame (meeting) a little bit, here’s a guy who’s gone through a lot of adversity this year, and today he had a chance to go out there in the fifth inning and it just unraveled on him. He didn’t help himself a couple of different places, at first base and walking the leadoff hitter that inning, that kind of stuff. But if he believes us and he believes in himself, he’s going to be better off for it, because nobody should ever go through something like this, but you’ve got to go through it (when faced with it).”
He’ll get one more start, right?
“Yes, he’ll get one more.”
Prado’s all-around play today not a surprise to you, I’d imagine?
“No surprise whatsoever. This guy can do a lot of great stuff. He’s a great teammates, as we know. And one of the best titles you can have is, you’re just a good baseball player. And he is a baseball player. He gives you good at-bats, gives you great defense, knows how to run the bases, does a lot of different stuff.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
Did wrist flare up again today, worse than recently?
“Yeah, before the game I was in the cage and Seitz (hitting coach Kevin Seitzer) asked how it was and I said I could tell it’s a little bit worse today. I still went out t here and tried it. It’s kind of a tell-tale sign when I tried to bunt. (Laughs.) But I’m going to go see Dr. Lourie tomorrow and see what he determines. It’s kind of just flared up a little bit more, I don’t know if it’s (because) it was a quick turnaround (to a day game), if it just didn’t heal enough like it normally does with a night game. I don’t know. But obvioiusly it was just a little worse today.”
Could Fredi tell or did you say something?
“He asked if I bunted because it hurt, or if it was because I saw an opening (on the third-base side). I said, Fredi, I don’t care if there’s nobody on the left side of the field, I’m not going to be bunting. When I was on-deck in the at-bat before that, I didn’t even take a swing. Just (planned on) going into it bunting the whole time. Then I saw Martin (Prado in shift) so I was like, maybe I’ll be able to jam-shot something (down the line). I don’t know how the ball went on the barrel of the bat right there. But it just flared up a little bit more. Hopefully with Dr. Lourie, maybe he’ll give me some good news. I don’t know, maybe with a day and a half I’ll be able to go.”
