Braves quotes after Tuesday’s loss to the Mets

**KRIS MEDLEN

Seemed like you were cruising along for five innings…

“It was a frustrating start. I felt like I was controlling the game for the most part, and showed signs of making the adjustments that I’ve talked about making for the entire year. God, I felt great for the first five and, you know, wasn’t able to prevent that big inning. It was just an inning of missing my spots and falling behind, which I didn’t do the entire game (before that). Like I said, it’s frustrating, but I’m just trying to look at the positives and see the fact that I did make those adjustments for five innings.”

Can you take the positives from it instead of looking at it as third straight loss?

“Obviously you look at that (loss). But you’re out there battling your butt off. I think this loss was a lot different than the last two, whereas I showed some signs of missing some bats. You know, I care and I’m trying, and I’m making adjustments. I’ve just got to zone in on that last inning and prevent myself from doing what I’ve been doing all year, which is pulling off and leaving the ball up in the zone. That’s what happened in that sixth inning.”

On giving up big hits recently with guys in scoring position

“Guys are in scoring position for a reason. I’ve been making more mistakes than I have in the past. Like I said, I’m just trying to make adjustments and fix it while I can.”

On Ike Davis’ RBI double on breaking ball

“When I have gotten him out in the past, when I’ve thrown good curveballs to him I’ve gotten the job done. That was one that was kind of down and in right into his bat path. It was almost like, ‘I’m going to keep throwing them and dare you to him them,’ and he hit it. Frustrating overall, and that was a big part of the inning.”

On his overall performance

“I think I showed some signs of the adjustments I’ve been talking about, but overall it’s a loss…. Fastball location was better. Balls were down, balls were moving a little bit better. I was happy about that. But for me, it was just the one big inning.”

“I didn’t give us a chance to win…. Washington and Philly both lose, so we missed an opportunity there.”

On his at-bat in second inning

“I had guys on second and third with nobody out, and I think I need to do a better job of helping myself out there. I’m a pitcher, but I try to take pride in trying to help myself out as much as I can, and I failed on that one.”

On whether he’s thinking about how his rotation spot could be in jeopardy with Beachy and Wood waiting in the wings

“Not at all. I know it’s been brought up, but I said I don’t want to go to the ‘pen, I didn’t say I wouldn’t go to the ‘pen. There’s a difference. So if that’s where they feel I’ll be most effective to help the team win, then obviously I’m going to do that. But I think I’ve had a pretty good year, from last year to now. I’m just kind of in a bad stretch. I hope the team sticks with me. I’m trying to do what I can do to control the situation, and just stay aggressive.”

**FREDI GONZALEZ

On Medlen pitching well until bad sixth inning

“I don’t know, we’ll look at the video. I don’t know if it was command or left balls out over the plate that inning. But he goes out the inning before and goes 1-2-3. I mean, 70 pitches, you go out there, and then we couldn’t stop the bleeding in the sixth.”

On the offense

“Bottom line, we had the opportunity to score some runs early. I thought we hit the ball hard, but we didn’t get it done when we had the opportunity to score some runs.”

On letting Torres off the hook couple times in early innings

“The guy made a great play (in the first inning), Gattis hit a rocket to center field and Lagares makes a nice throw to the plate and cuts down Jason. And then we hit a ball hard a couple of times with nobody on, and we couldn’t really do anything the rest of the game offensively.”

Do you see anything different in Medlen the past two or three weeks during his skid?

“Not right now. It was almost two different pitchers going, the first five innings and then the sixth. The swings (against him) got better in the sixth than in the first five innings, so that’s something we need to look at.”

**ANDRELTON SIMMONS

On early missed scoring opportunities

“Yeah, we had a couple of chances to score some runs. Myself, I had a good chance to hit a ground ball to short (with two in scoring position and one out in second). I popped up. I mean, he made some good pitches. When he found himself in trouble, he made the pitches he needed. So you’ve got to tip your hat to him.”

Any adjustments Torres made after first couple of innings?

“Yeah, he was on the corner for the most part. Cutter away, slider away, front-door curveballs – he was making a lot of good pitches. He wasn’t leaving a lot of stuff down the middle. That’s what I think he did for the rest of the game.”

On having 10 homers in the team’s first 100 games

“I’m feeling good. I’m seeing the ball good, I’m feeling strong. I don’t see why I can’t hit double-digits in home runs. Not that I’m a home-run hitter, but I should be able to turn on mistakes.”