NEW YORK — Braves quotes from Julio Teheran, A.J. Pierzysnki and Fredi Gonzalez after Thursday’s 6-3 loss to the Mets.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On all the walks issued by Braves pitchers
“I’m surprised we stayed this close for as long as it was, because they had baserunners everywhere. Usually when you do that somebody’s doing to split a gap.”
“We finished with more hits than they did, but that’s not how you keep score. You keep score by getting runners in.”
On walks affecting Teheran’s pitch count
“The relievers are not in the game if we get Teheran (deeper in game) with less than 102 pitches. We were trying to get him through the fifth, and he got through, what, 4 1/3? With over 100 pitches. You don’t want to keep pushing him and putting him in situations where he could hurt himself. That’s where (the walks) hurt you, you’ve got to go to your pen and try to mix-and-match for the rest of the game because the starter didn’t go five innings.”
On whether sweep was more about streaking Mets or Braves playing badly, or both
“They’ve got a pretty good combination going right now. Their starters don’t give up any walks, they throw strikes. Their run differential is unbelievable. Today was what they do, they just put people on base and get big hits once in a while. They’re playing OK, but we keep…today we just let them hang around.”
What was A.J. thinking on the stolen-base attempt?
“I don’t know, I think maybe Bartolo wasn’t paying attention to him and he was trying to steal a base.”
On starters going less than six innings in so many games, how much of a concern about it taxing bullpen?
“You can’t go very long sustaining that. You like for your starter to go a little deeper in games, because if not you’re going to get exposed. It doesn’t matter who you are; those middle relievers, with maybe 30 teams out there they are not your top guys. Usually your top guys are at the end of the game. If your starters are not getting to those top guys, you’re going to go into some losing streaks. I’m not concerned because it’s so early, but yeah, you want your starters going deep into ballgames.”
On having chance after loading bases with none out, Gomes lines out to left…
“They made a mistake. Murph (Daniel Murphy) made a mistake trying to throw the ball to the plate instead of taking two there, and all of a sudden we’ve got bases loaded nobody out. And we end up coming back and tying the game at that point. Jonny had a great at-bat against Colon, lined out right to them. But that’s a good at-bat; put a good swing on it, they’re allowed to catch it.”
On Simmons having a big day
“So far he’s had some pretty good games. Good for him. Pierzysnki and Markakis are swinging the bats well. I’m not worried about the offense, I’m bit worried about our pitching and our bullpen a little right now.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On his problems once again with gripping ball in brisk weather
“It was a real battle in the first inning with the weather, of course. It was affecting me a little bit. I couldn’t find my grip. The last two innings I found a way to throw a strike, but I was deep in the pitch count (by then).”
“I threw too many pitches in the first inning. It was one of those games where you don’t have your stuff, and you just battle to get through.”
Was it affecting any pitch in particular?
“Well, all my pitches, because I couldn’t find the grip. Just trying to throw a strike, but I couldn’t.”
Was it similar to what you felt last year in the five-walk game at San Francisco?
“Yeah, kind of. But this time, for the last two innings I found a way to do something different that I don’t do in the regular games.”
What did you do differently?
“I don’t like to put my hands on my mouth, but that’s what I had to do today. That’s what got me through my last two innings.”
How discouraging to leave in the fifth inning, then see what happens after that?
“It’s tough. Because you just want to get through five innings and just battle. As a starter you want to go the most innings you can, so to leave before the (end of the) fifth, that’s tough.”
Everything’s fine with your knee?
“Yeah, I don’t feel anything with the knee. I don’t even remember that.”
**A.J. PIERZYNSKI
On Teheran today, could you tell he was out of sorts early?
“Yeah, he just didn’t look very comfortable. Even in warmups he was blowing on his hand more than you normally see. He just didn’t look comfortable out there. I don’t know if it was the grip, I don’t know what was going on. He just seemed a little bit off today. He’s not normally a guy that walks guys and doesn’t throw strikes. To walk the bases loaded in the first inning was very strange for him to do.”
Did you see a difference when he started blowing on his hand?
“Yeah, I thought when he started blowing on his hand he got more into the flow of the game and seemed to not be thinking about it as much. Once he got to that point he threw the ball well to get into the fifth. After throwing what seemed like 40 pitches in the first inning, to get into the fifth was good. I thought we could help get him through the fifth and get him a chance at a win, but unfortunately the pitch count just got so high, so quick, that we weren’t able to do that.”
You went out talk to him once or twice early
“Yeah, just to make sure he was OK. Because he wasn’t acting like himself, and he said whatever it was, this or that, but he wasn’t acting like himself on the mound. So, just trying to get him back focused on what he needed to do. After he gave up the hit to Murphy, he pitched well.”
On Braves coming back to tie game and having chance to go ahead
“We had chances. We tied it up and we had some more chances to get some more runs, guys on base and stuff. We hit some balls really hard, they just made some nice plays on them. That’s baseball. They’re hot right now. They’re getting all the breaks. When good teams are riding that wave, you have to find a way to stop them, and we weren’t able to do it. The last couple of games I thought we played well. We grinded the games out, we battled, we had chances in both games to win. We just came up short.”
On the rotation, you think there’s enough to take pressure off the bullpen?
“Yeah. Julio’s pitched a lot of games and won a lot of games in the big leagues. Shelby’s done it. Woody’s done it. Stults and Cahill have both pitched and won a lot of games. So they know what to do. It’s not like … I mean, Stults last night, six innings and one run, that’s pretty good. We’ll take that every time and then give it to our bullpen and take our chances. But I think the starters are going to be fine. Obviously you want every guy to go eight innings with no runs, but that’s not realistic. As long as they can give us a chance, keep us in the game and get as deep as they can, then you’re happy with outings.”
On the caught stealing when Colon ran over and tagged him
“I thought I could sneak one there. With Simba (Simmons), he’s been swinging the bat well, I was just trying to get in scoring position with two outs. He unfortunately held the ball longer than he had been the whole time. He had kind of got into a rhythm, I was just trying to time him up. That one time, he held it just a little bit longer. If I had gone the pitch before, I probably would have made it. But he held it. Bartolo’s a veteran guy, he’s been around a long time, so he doesn’t panic. He just did what he’s supposed to do.”
On the overturned call at home, him being ruled safe because catcher blocked plate
“As a runner, there was nowhere for me to go. I hate the rule. Two years ago it would have been a collision, I would have run him over. As a baserunner you’re just not programmed or wired anymore to do that… Talking to the umpires and the coaches, I still think I could have run him over. Because he just stood there. That’s why they called me safe, because he never looked, he was just there the whole time.”
