CHICAGO — Braves quotes from Justin Upton, Freddie Freeman, Julio Teheran and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Sunday’s 10-7 win against the Cubs in the last game before the All-Star break.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Chris Johnson’s three homers, seven RBIs in two days
“Good for him, he’s swinging a hot bat. I’m sure he’s going to want to find a place to play during the All-Star break. (Kidding.) You never want to stop when you’re playing like that. Like (the Cubs’ Chris) Coghlan.
“We had to add some runs there at the end of the game and he (Johnson) seems to keep coming up and delivering.”
On bullpen giving up three runs in the eighth
“That can happen here with the wind blowing out. And offensively they’re a pretty good club. They don’t give up at-bats. That’s a good trait to have. They keep coming after you.”
On La Stella getting another big hit
“Facing (lefty Zac) Rosscup there, who hasn’t given up a hit to a left-hander this year. He did a nice job on the bases-clearing double there.”
He’s done that a few times, those two-out clutch hits
“La Stella, yeah. Against tough left-handers too. I remember Bastardo in Philly. This guy here is no piece of cake. He sticks his nose in there and splits a gap.”
On three walks issued in eighth, two by Avilan to load bases and one by Simmons to bring in run
“You don’t want to do that. This game is hard enough to get people out without giving free passes. It’s one of those situations, you don’t want do that. I don’t know if it was a case where Avi hadn’t pitched in a while and was a little rusty. And then Shae coming in, we keep putting him in situations which are not ideal for a young pitcher to pitch in. But we have so much confidence in him that we keep running him out there.”
On Gerald Laird
“I thought Laird did a terrific job getting us on the board, and then making a hhell of a play on that ball that got away. That was a big out.”
Break maybe come at a good time for Avilan, who’s had some troubles in first half?
“Yeah, I think so. Maybe he just needs a little breather. But he just came off a little breather, I think. What was it, second day in New York when he pitched? Anyway, I think everybody now has a chance to catch a breather, and hopefully nobody goes out and goes whitewater rafting and everybody comes back in one piece.
“But we had a pretty good first half. Better than pretty good. Now we’ve got to enjoy this break and come out in the second half and keep firing.”
On Teheran coming back from rough start in New York
“He always seems to bounce back, and today he bounced back.”
What made him effective again today?
“He mixed all his pitches well, and he went to the offspeed a couple of different times.”
On being able to bring in Kimbrel when things are getting crazy in late innings
“You’re lucky to have a guy like him, very fortunate. You kind of count backwards a little bit. You know how many outs you need to get to get to him, and if you get to him you feel pretty good that, for the most part, you’re going to be shaking hands after the game. And he’s been able to do that four year in a row now. That’s a nice luxury to have.”
On Justin Upton’s nice catch against the left-field wall in ninth
“There’s not too many outfielders who are going to challenge that wall, because it’s the ivy and then you’ve got the brick behind it. He did a nice job there.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On his outing
“I felt good today. I think everything was working today, just happy the way I’ve been doing the first half. Take these four days (All-Star break) and then come back and do the same thing.”
On the All-Star game
“I’m just going to enjoy it. I still don’t know what I’m going to do there. I’m just happy with what I’ve been doing. This has been a great year.”
Feel good to bounce back from rough start in NY with a good one today?
“Yeah, I was trying to pitch my best. I know that my last outing, I didn’t have a good outing. I just tried to come back like I did twice (after other bad starts) this year, and that’s what I did today.”
Can be a tough place to pitch, huh?
“Yeah. I pitched good here last year. Just happy to be back here and tried to do the same thing I’ve been doing.”
On comparison to NY start
“My command was better today and my two-seamer was working.”
“The first inning I was trying to be too fine, and that’s what happened my last outing.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
Were you thinking that outfield wall was padded? (kidding)
“No, I was thinking I didn’t want to be out there much longer, I want to catch this ball.”
On running into that brick wall
“It shook me a little bit. But I was able to turn my shoulder so I was alright.”
On giving Teheran lot of run support early
“Any time we can little Jooly settle in and make his pitches, we feel like it’s going to be a good day. So it was nice to get some runs on the board and give him a little cushion.”
On finishing first half with couple of wins
“These last two games we’ve been pretty productive offensively, and that’s kind of what’s been lagging behind for us, is being able to put up runs. So if we can match our pitching with some good offense, I think we’ll be alright.”
On being able to bring in Kimbrel when things are getting crazy in late innings
“We knew if we could get the ball to Craig we’d be alright. We had a three-run lead and got out of that jam, handed the ball to him and he took care of the rest.”
On La Stella and another two-out hit and hit with RISP
“He’s a contact guy, he can drive the ball to gaps and he’s got some big hits for us. He’s driving the ball all over the yard and he’s done a great job.”
On Heyward being on nice run in past week and Johnson hitting three homers in two days, going into the break
“We know what both of those guys are capable of doing, and it’ll be nice to rest up, but we want those guys to remain hot. So, come back in the second half and try to be as strong a they were the last part of the first half.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On significance of Chris Johnson coming alive with three homers, seven RBIs past two games
“Huge, huge. He’s in the middle of that lineup, and now he’s doing what he’s capable of the past couple of games he’s been huge, and hopefully that can get him on a roll in the second half.”
On La Stella
“He’s a very confident young man. He’s just showing why he belongs here and just keeps doing it night in and night out.”
On team being just a couple of games off last year’s past at 95 games
“Yeah, we’re doing well. Seems like every single day there’s a (critic who says), ‘Braves are going to do this, Braves are going to do that, Brave are falling and collapsing.’ And here we are, at least tied for first going into the second half. We’re playing good baseball. Nice to get a little two-game winning streak going into the break.”
