Braves quotes after Thursday’s win against Mets

“He’s been solid now four times out. Today his curveball was probably his best pitch, other than command of his fastball. And he had a nice mix. Good for him. The young man earlier in the year had some tough luck, and I think he’s progressing in the right direction.”

On how much deeper the rotation is with Minor back in good form

“There’s no question. He’s one of those guys who can keep a winning streak going or stop a losing streak. He has that capability. I really like the way he’s been able to repeat his delivery and use all his pitches.”

On Bonifacio’s four-hit, two-RBI game

“He had a great day. Brought him in there because you see the numbers against Niese a little bit (Bonifacio was 2-for-7 against the lefty before Thursday, while B.J. Upton was 1-for-9 with five strikeouts). And the same thing with Laird. And both guys had big days. Well, Laird had a base hit off Niese. But Boni got some stuff going and scored a couple of runs.”

On getting the add-on runs and saving the back of the bullpen

“Those add-on runs are big. We had Kimbrel up but we didn’t have to use him. And you bring in Anthony (Varvaro) and you feel comfortable that you don’t have to go get him with a five-run lead.”

You’ve talked about Minor’s athleticism in the past, tonight he got two hits

“At one point he was everything – he pitched well, drove in a run, had a double, scored later on in that inning… He was not only pitching well, he was our offense for six games.”

On winning last two games of trip, after losing last two games of four-game series at Cincy

“You win two series and split a four-game series, and in Cincinnati we had a chance to win three out of four. And if you continue further back, we swept the Oakland A’s. So, the last 10-12 games we played good baseball.”

**MIKE MINOR

On this game compared to Friday at Cincinnati

“Same game plan pretty much. Threw sinkers, sinker and curveball pretty much.”

“We just kept on throwing sinkers away, and later on they started making adjustments the second or third time through the order. But we tried to just mix it, get them to chase it up, then we’d throw the curveball off of that. So it was effective because of the tunnel that they were looking at.”

That four strong starts since returning to rotation, do you feel like you’ve turned corner back to being yourself?

“I feel like that, but it’s not saying I can’t go out there and have a bad game. But I do feel like I’ve turned a corner with pitches and hitting spots and attacking hitters. I do feel confident. I don’t feel like that little guy in the back of my head is saying, ‘Don’t give up the home run’ anymore. I feel like I’m attacking guys and going after them.”

Must feel great to make strides like that in the middle of the season?

“Well, at the end of the season, for sure. We need all the wins we can get right now, so it feels good.”

Did you say Santana helped you with your sinker and slider mostly?

“All of them, pretty much. Sinker, slider, curveball. But really we just throw a lot of sinkers now, because it’s got downward action and I get a lot of ground balls. I don’t strike out as many guys, but I don’t go as deep into counts, either. I was kind of upset when I kept on throwing ball 1 tonight, or it seemed like that. But I was trying to attack them but still get that good action on the sinker.”

How good does it feel to have a night like this, when you’re pitching well, getting a couple of hits…

“Yeah, I was having a real good time until I got taken out after giving up a run. Then the tides turned around with us putting up a bunch of runs.”

Easier to hit into that wind tonight than to pitch into it?

“No, it was easy to pitch into it, because you got better action (on balls). That’s what Gerald was talking about earlier, he felt like everybody that (pitched) tonight, the action on their pitches was better.”

**GERALD LAIRD

On Minor turning a corner with these four strong starts

“Yeah, he’s been good. Like I said the last time, all the stuff he’s been working on in the bullpen with the two-seamer and creating that depth with the fastball kind of moving down, it’s just nice to see him come out and get some good results, because now he’s just building more and more confidence. Today I don’t think we threw a change-up at all, just sinkers that were diving so good, and the curveball’s working good. Just mixed in a couple of sliders and moved the four-seamer. I mean, he was in complete control of that game. For the whole time.”

On Minor getting a couple of hits and dominating on the mound tonight

“It’s fun to watch. We all know what he’s capable of doing on the mound. And he’s a good athlete. He’s got a good idea what he wants to do when he’s in the (batter’s) box, and he’s one of those guys who takes pride in trying to help himself in a game. And look, he drives in the first run and he hits a double, and doesn’t seem to lose it (after those hits) when he goes on the mound. He’s able to turn it back on when he goes back out there. Some (pitchers) kind of get into their hitting and then go back out there and have a rough innings, where he knows the differences and he goes out and just keeps pounding the zone. It was fun to be back there.”

On Minor getting back to being a top-half-of-rotation guy

“This is the guy we expected. This is the big leagues, guys struggle. He knows he struggled, and he went back and he’s made an adjustment and he’s having success with that adjustment, and now just kind of created a new pitch for him. I mean, he didn’t really ever throw the two-seamer, now he has that and he still has the explosive four-seamer with the change-up and the curveball and the slider. For me, he’s gotten better, and once he gets more command of the sinker he’s just going to get better and better.”

On Bonifaco providing a spark for offense with four hits including triple

“That’s why they traded for him. Tough little lineup guy. He gets on base, and tonight he got on base and drove in a run and kind of got things going. He’s fun to watch out there because he gets on base and just makes things happen.”

**EMILIO BONIFACIO

“It was nice to win the series and to contribute. I was real happy.”

On getting three starts in past six games, getting more at-bats helpful?

“I just try to stay focused and be able to help the team win.”

Did this look like the Minor you’ve seen in the past couple of years from other dugout?

“Yeah, that’s the pitcher I’ve seen when I played against him. That’s really nice to see, especially now. We really need him.”

“He’s figured it out. He was throwing a no-hitter again until the fifth inning. That’s pretty impressive.”