PHILADELPHIA — Braves quotes from Shelby Miller, Chris Johnson and Fredi Gonzalez after Thursday’s 4-1 loss to the Phillies.
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On Aaron Harang working out of trouble
“Every time. That’s vintage Harang. He goes after guys when nobody’s on, and pitches aggressive in the zone. So you can get some hits off him. Then when he gets guys on, in scoring position, we saw it last year, he buckles down and doesn’t give in, gets out.”
Doesn’t overpower anybody, but…
“He knows how to pitch. If you go up there and try to think with him, you’re probably going to get yourself out. So you just try to stick with your approach and hopefully he misses. When nobody’s on base you’ve got a better chance, but when he gets guys on he does not give in. He hits corners. That’s what he’s done his whole career.”
Was it tough to play at all today, with the mood in the clubhouse after the big trade?
“I don’t think it’s tough to play ever. If it’s tough for you to play up here any day, you shouldn’t be playing here. So I don’t think so, at all.”
**SHELBY MILLER
Seemed like they had some bleeders and bloops, then hit some balls harder later
“Yeah, I mean, granted the guys got on base and stuff, I obviously gave up a lot of hits. But with the runners in scoring position I made two good pitches that were broken-bat singles, three runs scored. You can’t really do nothing but get the ball back and keep going. Other than that, the homer (Domonic Brown) was a bad pitch, a split-finger I’m trying to work on and kind of just left it up. But a couple of mistakes here and there, other than that they really didn’t give away any at-bats, so it was a tough battle the whole time.”
How much did the heat affect you? Fredi mentioned having to change shirts, etc.
“I don’t think it affected me physically at all. Maybe some pitches slipped out of my hand possibly, with some sweat dripping down my hand. That’s probably the most I’ve sweat in a while. It was definitely hot. But I don’t think that was the reason why at all. You play the game in humidity. Atlanta’s hot, here’s hot. You’ve got to get used to that, and there’s no excuses for that.”
On Simmons starting slick double play
“That’s huge. Obviously I get up there and look where I’m at sometimes, getting deep in the game the pitch count’s getting up. To get two outs right there, that’s huge. He’s always looking for ways to get outs. Everybody talks about how much of an athlete he is and all the plays he makes, but he’s smart out there, too. He’s obviously got a lot of knowledge for the game, looking for stuff like that, you’ll see him backdoor it to first looking to get guys out. He’s always aware. I love watching him play, I’m glad he’s on my team.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Harang giving up nine hits in five innings, but only one run
“You know what, you’ve got to give him credit. He never gives in. He’s a guy that knows how to pitch, knows how to hit those corners and take advantage of the hitter’s aggressiveness. We saw him do it for about 30 starts last year (for the Braves) and about three of them (vs. the Braves) this year. We scattered, what, seven or eight hits? Got no runs. Well, one run. Got bases loaded, and he just got out of it.
“They made Shelby work. Lot of foul balls, lot of deep counts, not very many quick outs. But again, he goes out and gives you four runs (allowed) and we didn’t score any runs for him.”
You had bases loaded with none out and Freeman up, chance to blow open game in third
“Yeah, that’s the guy you want (up), but it didn’t happen. I’ll take my chances there every single time in that situation. Give us that situation at least once or twicea game and we’ll knock a couple of runs in. But we didn’t do it tonight.”
On heat/humidity affect on Miller
“He was struggling with the sweat. He was strong, he was just struggling with the sweat. We tried a couple of different uniform tops and shirts, and I think even changed pants. But you know, this is a guy who’s pitched in St. Louis in the middle of summer, and been in Atlanta, so I don’t think that was any factor.”
On some cheap hits getting through against Miller, and some broken-bat hits
“A couple of them did. It was a swinging bunt…but then, they still count. It’s not that middle column that you worry about, it’s that first column. The runs. And they got four of them, and we only got one.”
Did the trade and subdued tone in clubhouse this afternoon carry over into game, in your opinion?
“I don’t think so. You got 12 hits, and a veteran pitcher (Harang) who’s not going to give in. We know that, and we were (still) a little bit aggressive against him.”
