**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Harang’s outing and the Braves’ loss
“I tell you what, that’s about as close to an American League lineup as we’ve faced in a long time, and they’re clicking pretty good right now. I think Harang did a nice job just giving up four runs in six innings. He navigated himself through some of the tough guys in that lineup, but Puig’s swinging it right now, and some of the other guys. Kemp, couple of home runs.”
Beckett throwing so many pitches early, did you feel like opportunities wasted to take advantage of that?
“I thought we did a nice job, being patient with him. He was well over 100 pitches there. We did a nice job being patient with him, and Harang leaves with the game tied 4-4, pitches six strong innings. Anthony’s been nails for the whole year, and it just happened today that he was facing a pretty good hitting lineup that’s clicking on all cylinders.”
On the offense
“We had some opportunities. I thought we swung the bats well early in the game. Even in the eighth inning when we they had J.P. Howell, against one of the top left-handers in the game La Stella gets a base hit, Freeman draws a base on balls, and they’ve got to bring in their closer for a four-out save. It was just one of those games where they out-hit us.”
On Puig’s .526 average in 9 games vs. Braves including playoffs
“I don’t think I’ve seen him make an out. Maybe when he comes up to the plate I’ll just go hide back here in the locker room or something so maybe he’ll make an out. But he’s, uh, he’s energized right now. He’s swinging the bat well.”
**AARON HARANG
On Dodgers lineup
“They have the veteran hitters over there all throughout that lineup, guys that can be game-changers. In the fifth, I get Gonzalez 0-2 and try to triple-up on him and go back in again, up above his hands. I just didn’t get it up high enough and in enough where I wanted to. He was able to put the bat on the ball. I think if maybe I had gotten a change-up down and away, something down and away … he fouled off two fastballs up-and-in right before that. But that’sa veteran hitter right there. A guy that’s going to make an adjustment and try and guess with the pitcher sometime. He was able to put enough on the ball and put it where our guys couldn’t get it. Same with Crawford, just threw a backdoor curveball that wasn’t out enough and down enough, and he was able to hit it just over the infield.
“They do have a good lineup. They have guys that can definitely make things happen and get key hits when they need to.”
On Kemp
“Matt did a good job hitting that curveball. That’s the Matt Kemp I remember from 2012, the first half that season it was unbelievable the way he was hitting the ball. And when he hit the home run off Varvaro later in the game, too. That’s the swing I always hated having to face. I mean, if you get him hot and keep the other guys going at a pretty good pace, they’re going to be a definite tough team to reckon with the rest of the season.”
On Puig
“That was my first time facing him. He’s a good hitter, has got a lot of tools. But I left some pitches over the middle of the plate that he he could hit. I mean, he has the power to drive the ball with authority, and speed helps out, too, to get those extra bases. I think looking back at it, after the first at-bat, the other two pitches were down and away and he drove them to right-center. After that you probably look at maybe throwing something more in, just to keep him honest and keep him going out to get those fastballs down and away.”
On Vin Scully’s announcement he’s coming back
“I’m amazed that he still does what he does and he does it so well. He’s such a positive person. It doesn’t matter who’s playing; it doesn’t matter if the team’s got the worst record in the league, he’s still positive about everybody in the clubhouse and only has good things to say about everybody. I mean, it was a definite honor to get to play here and get to meet him and know him. I’m amazed. I mean, he’s still got that love for the game. Obviously he can’t stay away from here. It’s a definitely treat for all fans throughout baseball to be able to still have him around doing what he does.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On Matt Kemp’s resurgence
“That’s what he does, he uses the whole field, hits the ball to the opposite field really well. He looked pretty good tonight.”
On Beckett’s huge early pitch count (81 through three innings, 105 through 4 1/3)
“We were just trying to get good pitches to hit. Early on he wasn’t throwing the ball over the plate as much as he’d like to do, so we were able to wait him out and get his pitch count up.”
On the offense
“If you could score four runs a night, obviously you’d be happy with that. Tonight we just got beat. They outscored us. Just got to go back to the drawing board and see what we can do tomorrow.”
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