Clubhouse quotes from Andrelton Simmons, Evan Gattis, Kris Medlen and manager Fredi Gonzalez following Tuesday's win over the Mets at Turner Field.
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
Did it with the bat tonight
“It’s about time.”
On crushing his game-winning home run
“I think that’s the furthest one I’ve ever hit. Especially to left-center.”
On how it felt to put Braves ahead with that homer
“It felt good. Gattis tied it up, so after that Danny walked and got him a little tired. He was trying to find the zone; I guess he was making sure he didn’t walk me, too. So he left one right down main street, and I got all of it.”
Known for your defense, but what about your offense?
“It’s a work in progress, but still, I’ve been working hard on it every single day pretty much. It’s nice to see results where I’m hitting the ball hard lately. Hopefully I keep that momentum going through October.”
On Gattis being back, getting three hits including tying homer
“It’s nice to have him back. We saw in BP, just flicking balls over the fence, and we knew right away he was locked in from the start, lining a ball to right-center. Then after a little bit he got a high cutter or whatever it was and hit it pretty well. It’s nice to have him back.”
On Gattis’ impact
“You can throw him anywhere. You can give Freeman a day off at first, you can put him behind the plate, you can put him in left field, and it’s always nice to have his bat in the lineup.”
On Mets starter Torres
“He was on today. He came at us, fastball, cutter, fastball, fastball…. Fortunately, Danny got him tired. He was leaving them a little over the middle. I was fortunate to get that one.”
On his homer being longer than Gattis’ homer
“I had to show him what’s up.” (laughs
“No, but he’s a strong guy. I just got a better pitch, and I got my arms extended and got a good swing on it. And the ball traveled pretty well.”
**EVAN GATTIS
On the game-tying homer
“It’s good to square the ball up first, and it just ended up being a home run, you know?”
Few days at Gwinnett seemed to be what you needed
“Yeah I think so. I felt fixed before leaving. It’s good to go there and really kind of put it in action. And from there, yeah, definitely good to have a good night here – first one especially.”
Do you remember your last homer?
“Yeah off Jeremy Hefner, my buddy.” (Against the Mets on July 24)
On saying earlier, just looking for your pitch
“And anything from deviates from that…like first pitch is up and away and I was looking middle middle. And I was like, I can hit that.”
On first-pitch hits earlier in the game
“I was just looking for a good pitch to hit and they were strikes, two fastballs in the zone, just ready to hit.”
Aggressive approach where you’re most comfortable?
“If I’m getting pitches to hit, yeah. That’s the idea, I think you’re going to get out enough in this game without putting the ball in play. So I think that’s kind of the right way to go about it, and be aggressive hitting off the fastball in the zone.”
Did those three games put you at ease, getting back in a groove?
“Yeah it’s nothing mechanical. It’s nothing more than getting ready to hit. And this is going to be my pitch. Whatever happens after that, we’ll see. It’s not guessing or wondering if this is going to be a strike or a slider or whatever. It’s too much thinking. You don’t have time, you know? So it’s easiest for me. Usually when I’ve gotten away from that approach is when I’ve struggled.”
On wanting to be a part of playing, contributing in stretch run
“Yeah that was the first big league game I’ve ever played in September. First game I’ve played in September (overall) other than yesterday (with Gwinnett). Definitely, make a push and get everybody together and see what happens.”
On that feeling of running around the bases remind you of feeling earlier in the season
“Yeah, it’s exciting and it’s been a while, other than the other day, it’s been a while since I’ve had a homer, been a while since I’ve squared up, had multi-hit games and stuff like that. Three hits in a night, always happy.”
**KRIS MEDLEN
On pitching well and being down 1-0 after six innings
“It’s happened a couple of times this year, but for the most part, the way our offense has been going you just find a way to hang in there and they always find a way to have big innings. No different today. Torres was absolutely dealing, and I was trying to just keep it at 0-0.
“It went down to one pitch to Murphy, just a poorly executed 0-2 pitch. I thought we had him leaning over, but he’s a good hitter; I think he’s one of the best hitters. He hit the double to the corner, 1-nothing, just try to keep it there. Simba and Gat did a huge thing for myself and for the team.”
On low pitch count, lot of strikes early
“Yeah, I couldn’t help but laugh on the mound when the first six pitches were getting swung at. That’s my style, and when you get a couple of four-hour games in a row, it’s good to get one under three. But for the most part, I just tried to control the count. Just because guys were going up there looking for fastballs, if you execute them you can still get them out. I did a good job of keeping the ball down, for the most part. When they hit it, I left it up. But I was dictating the counts and felt pretty good.”
On giving up single on first pitch of game, getting out of that and some later trouble
“Whatever jam you get in, you always feel like you can get out. Whether your bases loaded, no outs, you’re a strikeout and a double play from getting out. I’m always thinking positive. Whether or not other people do, who knows? But I’m always on the mound trying to figure out how to get out of stuff. It’s just something that you learn as you get older in this game. I think I’ve figured out how to battle and go at guys. Today was a decent job of that.”
On going into September on his best roll of the year
“It seems to work out that way. The last couple of years I’ve finished strong, and I’m four or five starts away from doing the same thing. Just take it a start at a time. You have the ups and downs of a full year, work hard and battle through the tough times and the good times are even better.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On trip to Gwinnett seeming to have worked for Gattis
“Well, he went down there and he took it the right way, what we talked about here. He went down there and worked on his swing, got 13 at-bats that he might not have been able to get in that time span here and it worked. And I think we touched on it in my afternoon press conference, you wish you could do that every once in a while with somebody. Ten days is probably too much, but every once in a while just go down there and get stuff right, and he did. And he came back out today and you saw what he did. That’s a big bat.”
On Medlen
“I thought he was outstanding. I thought there for a second he was going to be one of those hard-luck losses because Torres was that good across the way. In the bottom of the seventh inning he makes a couple mistakes and we run it out of the ballpark and were able to get out of that inning in the eighth and Kimbrel in the ninth. I thought Kris was outstanding.”
One of longer homers you’ve seen Simmons hit?
“Yeah, Simba every once in a while … he’s a young hitter. I think we’re going to still see better numbers offensively as he grows up and gets into his career.”
On saw games early in season, how fast long balls can change game
“And it did. Tied it by Gattis, Danny had a great base on ball there that will maybe go unnoticed to the average fan and he made a mistake with Simba and he ran him out of the ballpark. That was it really because we hadn’t had too many good swings off him, not only this night but the time he faced us in New York. He has us pretty much off-balance sometimes.”
On Simmons having that knack, not getting fazed in those moments
“No he’s not, he’s played some big games. He came up last year as a rookie and did a fantastic job for us. He’s just going to keep getting better and better, especially offensively. Defensively, you never know, he could get better there too. But offensively I think we’re going to see a better player as he matures.”
