**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On winning with small-ball rally
“Yeah, we did everything. Had a little sacrifice bunt, sac fly, squeeze…. We did everything. Nice. Played good defense. Nice ballgame.”
On coming from behind to win
“We got it done somehow. That’s how you’ve got to do it, just it done somehow. However you’ve got to do it, just get it done. And we did it tonight. Took a little bit. The rain stopped the rain for a little bit. It kind of help, got us regrouped, and we came back and won. I mean, how many games have we come from behind already?”
“I feel like whenever we’re behind, we’ve still got a good chance.”
**MIKE MINOR
On Braves’ late rally
“All our guys are threats, and I feel like the (opposing) bullpen guys, or starters if they’re still in there, they feel the pressure of making a quality pitch. And that’s when you hang (pitches).”
Fredi said the comeback wins were mostly due to pitching
“I don’t think so. It’s all the hitters, defense, making good plays behind me and other guys.”
Pleased with your performance after the first few innings?
“Yeah, the first two times through the order, I wasn’t making quality pitches to the bigger hitters in the top of the lineup. And they got the two runs. Luckily, I made quality pitches to the lower half, and then the third time through I made better pitches (to the good hitters).”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
Missed some opportunities in sixth and seventh, then manufactured a comeback
“Yeah, we played the small ball tonight. Got to show everybody that we’re capable of doing that, too.”
Laid down some bunts, squeeze, etc
“Yeah, we’ve got a lot of guys who can do that. Simmons can do stuff like that, Pena can do stuff like that, Schafer can do stuff like that. We’ve got guys who can do that. It just shows how deep we are.”
On rallying against Jensen, League, good relievers
“I tell you what, those guys are tough, though. They’ve got guys with really good arms down there, and we don’t want to always wait until we get to their bullpen, because they have a good bullpen over there. And a lot of good arms over there on that team. So we’re fortunate to get out of here with three wins.”
On sweeping and winning three in a row for first time since 12-1 start
“It feels good. We want to get some wins going. We’ve got to get a streak going. We’ve struggled on the road, so hopefully we can take care of business at home, and then hopefully we’ll figure out what’s going on on the road here shortly.”
**RAMIRO PENA
On his sac fly
“That’s a big AB right there, so I was just trying to make contact, put the ball in play.”
On coming back to win, after missed chances late, the two rain delays, etc
“It was not easy. I mean, the rain delays, we started a little later, you have to concentrate on the game. Everybody put something into that inning.”
On the positive feeling in dugout even when behind after seven innings
“Yeah, definitely. Everybody was just, like, we have to do it one-by-one, everybody has to a little bit, and everybody did.”
On sweeping first series at home after rough road trip
“It’s always good playing at home. We’ve been on the road a lot of games. We definitely need to get these wins when we’re at home, so it feels great.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On the Braves’ pitching in series
“We’ve been slow out of the game on offense, and they’ve been able to keep us in the ballgame, keep runs off the board. That’s important in giving us a shot to win.”
On winning game without an extra-base hit
“However we can win, man. Whether we put the ball out in the parking lot — if we can scratch some runs, it’s a good day.”
**BRIAN McCANN
On the comeback win again
“Last night and tonight we had some people on. Gerald comes through with a huge knock, and we just added on from there and handed the ball to Kimbrel. That’s how we’ve been winning lately.”
On the eighth-inning rally
“That inning we played really good baseball. And then you hand the ball over to Kimbrel. Something that’s going to get overlooked is how good our bullpen did today. Some guys are going to have to step up, and today they definitely did that. And it’s good to see.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On another come-from-behind win
“Usually when you do that it’s good pitching somewhere down the line and I think we did that. Minor, 17 of out of the last 21, we retired. So gave us a chance. We hung around. And then we put a crooked number there in the eighth inning, did a lot of good stuff, did some fundamentally sound, good hitting, But yeah usually when you get come-from-behind victories you got some pretty good pitching along the way. And we did that this whole series.”
On wasted opportunities, then small ball
“Snit said it was nice to win ballgames without hitting the ball out of the ballpark and certainly we have that type of lineup that we can do that. But Schafer did a nice job executing the squeeze there, Laird with the big pinch hit, Pena with the sac fly RBI in that eighth inning and then just retired those guys, Avilan, Varvaro and Kimbrel there in the ninth inning.”
On how Minor’s performance will probably will get overlooked
“He did a hell of a job. What he got 103 pitches in six innings and wiggled out of a couple of situations but I keep saying you can’t wait for his next start because he keeps getting better and better and gives you quality start after quality start. He doesn’t get a decision here but he kept us in the ballgame.”
Would Minor have come out after six regardless of rain delay?
“I think so. Off the top of my head, I’m not sure how many clean innings he had other than the last one. He got himself in some trouble but he was good. He was really good.”
On bullpen responding after recent injuries
“Yeah, when you lose O’Flaherty and Avilan stepped up and Gearrin stepped up earlier in the series. We’ve got guys down there that can do the job. We will mix and match and figure out what we can do but you feel good with everybody that you bring in down there.”
