CRAIG KIMBREL
On if worked out of jams, almost expect to again:
“Any time you start an inning off with a leadoff walk and then you put another one behind it, that makes it difficult. I just wasn’t able to get out of it tonight.”
On 0-2 pitch to Solano:
“It wasn’t down as much as I would have liked to. That’s one of those pitches that you throw it, you want to throw it in the dirt. You don’t want to throw it where you can put the bat on the ball and he was able to do it.”
On if a tick off first couple batters:
“I felt like my control was a little off tonight. I was pulling the ball a little bit. If I was missing, I was missing pretty bad. It wasn’t like a slight miss. And yeah I wasn’t able to control it and get out of it tonight.”
On if different mentality coming into tie game:
“No, not at all. My job is still to go out there and keep us in the game, give us a chance to win, and I wasn’t able to do that tonight.”
On five-day layoff since pitching:
“No you can’t blame it on lack of going out there and pitching or anything like that. Our job is when we get the phone call to go out there and get the job done.”
DAN UGGLA
On surprised Stanton able to catch that ball:
“Yeah, I was surprised he went and got it because off the bat it had them split perfect and it must have had a little bit of fade and it just hung up there enough for him to run it down, so he made a good play.”
On not expecting to see Kimbrel give up anything, even in jam:
“Yeah we all look at him, even us, we look at him as kind of a robot, and we assume that it’s almost impossible for him to give up a run but he’s still human and he still made a good pitch right there. But Donovan just stayed through it and stayed with it and found a hole. It’s going to happen sometimes.”
On looks like blowout after first inning:
“It really did. We had a great first inning. We couldn’t tack anymore on. They had a few good innings where they’re scraped one across and they tied it up. They really put together some good at-bats tonight, fouled off a lot of pitches. They got Julio’s pitch count up. They did a good job scrapping and putting stuff together tonight.”
On Alvarez settling down after first:
“After the first inning, he was throwing strikes and we weren’t taking advantage of it. He was making pretty good pitches, sinker was working pretty good tonight and kept us off-balance after that first inning.”
On 4-2 homestand still:
“The game could have gone either way. They happened to get us in the end, but all in all still a good homestand. We’re looking forward to trying to get this road record a little better. We’ve had crappy weather here. I think we’re ready to get on the road and change it up a little bit.”
JULIO TEHERAN
On one of those nights you battle:
“Yeah, the whole game I was battling out there and it was one of those games that you don’t have your best. I was trying to compete and get them out with my other pitches.”
On needing a lot of pitches:
“I think I got almost everybody 3-2. They were swinging and there were foul balls. I think that’s why I made a lot of pitches.”
On 20-something pitches in first take it out of you:
“No, I was just trying to get out of the first inning. I struck out the side. They were swinging. By the end, I wasn’t commanding my breaking ball, so they were sitting on my fastball and my two-seamer.”
FREDI GONZALEZ
On used to seeing Kimbrel work out of jams like that:
“Yeah, 0-2 pitch the guy put the ball in play, just got it over to right field. We had some opportunities. We scored three right off the get-go and they came back and scored single digits in the second, third and fourth inning. They got the game tied up and then we just couldn’t get anything going the rest of the night. We didn’t have very many baserunners. Stanton made a hell of a play off of Uggla. I don’t know how that ball stayed up in the air that long. Maybe it came back to Stanton but he sure made a hell of a play to save the game there for them.”
On Teheran grinding it out:
“Yeah, that first inning he strikes out the side but it took him about 23 pitches to get through that first inning. And then he strikes out the next guy in the second inning. And I don’t know if that took a lot out of him, but he just didn’t seem like he got it going the rest of the night. He was in a jam from that moment on, he didn’t have an easy inning the second through the fifth, but nevertheless the game was tied and we had some opportunities, not very many opportunities against their bullpen but we didn’t get it done.”
On Carpenter and the middle guys:
“You know what? Carpenter keeps impressing you. You put him in situations and you put him in situations when you run him back out there in the seventh facing Stanton and the top of the order and he responded. And Walden does what he’s been doing. We had it lined up.”
On if Carpenter’s earned more responsibility for tougher situations:
“I think so and that’s the way it goes as a reliever. The better you pitch, the more comfortable the coaches or the manager gets with you, the more significant innings you get to pitch. And so far – not that we have openings, there’s no openings there – but he’s giving you an opportunity to be successful so you put him in situations like that and you feel comfortable.”
On facing Marlins when playing well:
“They’re pitching really good. The kid that pitched tonight has got a real good arm. Ramos that came out of the bullpen is really, really good, and they gave us fits.”
