ST. LOUIS — Braves quotes from Jordan Schafer, Ryan Doumit, Freddie Freeman and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Sunday's win at St. Louis.
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On pulling out win to end rough trip on high note
“Happy flight. We grinded all day, Gavin grinded all day and so did the hitters. We never caved today finally, and we (pulled) one out in the ninth.”
On capitalizing finally after so many things seemed to go against you
“Still going. Losing a ball in the sun … when you think something’s going to go your way and then another thing happens. We battled. Schafe had a great AB against Rosenthal. Heck of an AB. That got us the W.”
How’s your back?
“Good, I just got hit in the back. Just some soreness.”
Think there was anything to it (getting plunked by Garcia)?
“No, not at all.” (Smiles)
Because it seemed like Gavin made sure Jaime Garcia knew what was going on
“You can ask Gavin that one. No comment.”
On leaving here with win instead of being swept
“It’s big. I don’t know if you can say it was a must-need win, but it’s definitely nice to get one. And going back to our home crowd, hopefully this can give us some momentum going against the Brewers, who are playing unbelievable baseball. We have a tough four-game series but at least we have some momentum and salvaged at least one win against the Cardinals.”
Help when you can see the opposing closer for third consecutive day?
“I think so. He could be a little bit tired, he left a couple of pitches out. Obviously Doumy ambushing him as a pinch-hitter, that’s cool to see. He could be a little tired. He left some pitches over and we were able to jump on his mistakes today.”
**RYAN DOUMIT
On ambushing Rosenthal with the two-out pinch double in ninth
“You’re looking for the hard one (fastball), the hard straight one with him. I guessed right today. A guy that throws that hard, you don’t want to see his split, you don’t want to see his curveball. I was going up there looking for something hard that I could drive. I got the pitch I was looking for and kept it fair.”’
On coming back to win in ninth
“That’s a good team, a real good team over there. This has been a tough road trip, playing against two really good teams. It’s nice to take one from these guys and go home with a little momentum, because it’s not going to get any easier. We’ve got the Brewers coming in for four, the Rockies are playing pretty good baseball, so it’s not going to get any easier. So it’s nice to pull one out today.”
On Schafer get chance to make amends
“He threw together two great at-bats to work two walks there late in the game. That’s a big at-bat with the bases loaded against Rosenthal. He fouled off some pretty tough pitches, and that’s a testament to him.”
Did you think the pitch was a ball (ball four to Schafer)?
“Ball’s down. That’s a great eye by Schafer. Great eye.”
Not even borderline?
“Nah, I thought it was a great eye. That’s a pro at-bat.” (Smiles)
**JORDAN SCHAFER
On losing the fly ball in sun
“That’s the most helpless feeling in the world. The ball goes up, it’s fine, it comes down and halfway down it’s right in the middle of the sun. Just a helpless feeling. Thank God we were able to pull out a victory because if we had lost on that it wouldn’t have been a good flight home.”
How nice to have a have a chance to hit in that situation after what happened earlier?
“It was nice to be given a chance to kind of redeem myself a little bit. I was trying to go up there and compete. Whatever happens, happens, but just go up there and compete as best I can.”
Did you think for sure it was ball 4, or need to wait for umpire to call?
“When he throws 97 you don’t have a whole lot of time to decide. I’m just trying to go up there and have a good at-bat and compete. Luckily it worked out for us…. It was a close pitch. I felt it was a definite ball. It worked out for us.”
On Doumit’s big hit in 9th
“Yeah, pinch-hitting is almost an impossible thing. For him to just come right off the bench and smash 97 … good for him.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On big win and ninth-inning rally
“We grinded it out today. We’re at the end of this road trip and everybody’s tired of losing, and we go out and grind out the battle royale there at the end. We just keep getting good at-bats, and it’s nice to win this one, it really is. This will maybe get us going in the right direction. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to everybody, grinding out at-bats, and every pitch too. They didn’t give us anything. We got out of some jams, and it’s quite a win.”
On Schafer getting the bases-loaded walk after losing ball in sun
“The baseball gods give you a chance to redeem yourself. They gave him a chance in the ninth inning to redeem himself, and he did. Great at-bat. Really great at-bat. Doumit comes off the bench and gives us an opportunity to do that in the ninth inning.”
On Braves getting some breaks late after giving away runs earlier
“That’s OK; I’ll take that. Any chance you can. They gave us an opportunity to keep hanging around, and we did. We made the most of it.”
On Gavin Floyd
“I thought he was good. The three-run inning, he strikes out Borges to end the inning, and the next thing you know he gives up three runs (in the inning), and I don’t even know how many pitches he threw after striking out Borges (17 more to get out of the inning). But other than that … we rolled two double plays behind him, and he battled after we put him in a tough spot.”
On not pinch-running for Freeman in ninth
“In that spot we only have Pastornicky and B.J. (on the bench). Or Gattis. You don’t want to get (Freeman) out of the game there. Pastornicky with the (sore calf). And it’s tough to get your best hitter out of the game, no matter what the score is.”
On different in the flight home after winning instead of losing this finale
“Oh, 100 percent better. You feel better. You still know that you’ve got Milwaukee coming in and they’re a tough bunch of guys. But it’s sure nice to know you got the win, and these guys battled, and we’ll keep pushing, see what we can come up with.”
**GAVIN FLOYD
Nice to pull out a win after some things going against you guys earlier?
“Absolutely. Coming into this game, you want to go out there and make pitches no matter what the scenario is. You’ve got to continue to battle and fight out there, and I think we did a good job as a team to keep pressing. We’re going to grind it out. Just a great win today.”
What effect did the extra 17 pitches have, the ones needed to get out of second inning following two-out passed ball on strikeout?
“Actually, I thought after that, I’ve got to make pitches. Especially after that. No matter what the scenario is. I felt like I got stronger as the game went on, I felt like I started to really get into a good rhythm and kept competing and felt good.”
More on importance of the win
“Every win is important. We were able to pull it out today. The first two games, each game trying to go out there with the mentality we were going to win, and fight. And we were able to pull it out this day.”
