Braves quotes after Tuesday’s 9-0 win against Phillies

On getting his 1,000th hit and four RBIs on night Miller threw 3-hit shutout

“We needed one (run) and we got nine. But Shelby threw unbelievable. That’s how you pitch. That’s textbook. He did great. You could tell right away that he had ‘A’ stuff. It certainly makes it easy to play behind him when you’re not on your feet too much out there. Come in and get to raking. Fun night to be part of that.”

On Shelby Miller continuing to push even with big lead

“He was very focused. I mean, you could tell. You can see when guys are locked in and they’re feeling good and they want to just continue to go out and focus on what they’re doing. He was locked in. I really think we could have won that game 1-nothing. He was locked like that. Like I say, he made it pretty easy.”

As much as Braves hated losing Jason Heyward, that trade’s looking pretty good for Braves right now

“All due respect to any hitter in baseball, pitching wins. Consistency in the starting rotation and the bullpen, that’s what generally wins. We’ve seen it time and time again, and we’re always talking about it October, it seems like. When you get those last four, eight teams in the playoffs.

“So, good guy to build around. And we’ve got some other guys who are capable of doing the same thing. Just got to continue to be there and support them and enjoy it when you’ve got it.”

Can you see why he was the ballyhooed rookie when he came up with Cardinals?

“Yeah, I had some ABs against him. He brings it. He can throw it. And he’s still so young, he’s going to continue to grow. He’s got special talent.”

On difference in Miller with sinker he honed in second half last season

“What I remember is definitely more straight heater. I don’t where he was last year when I saw him, as far as physically or mentally. But you see the talent that has been hyped and people have talked about forever. It’s in there and he’s showing it. He’s having a great start. It’s so nice when you get guys who get on the mound and throw strikes and work quick. They just continue to feed off their own momentum and execution. When guys are rolling, there’s nothing better.”

On his own power surge lately and leading team in homers and RBIs

“I like where I’m at as far as the prep and routine and work. I’m always going to have to make adjustments, and you’re always going to have games where you could get at-bats back. But you’ve just got to keep going and keep your approach. That’s my goal. If the ball goes into the seats or it’s a swinging bunt, I don’t care. I just want to stay consistent with what I’m doing, and hopefully good results will follow. But I think it’s good what the offense has done in general. I think we can continue to do what we’re doing and it can be pretty good.”

**A.J. PIERZYNSKI

On Shelby Miller’s success tonight

“He was able to mix up his pitches. He threw enough fastballs to keep guys honest. He threw fastballs in and away. But he had a curveball and a good slider tonight, so he mixed it up really well. And he pitched ahead (in counts) the whole night, which is a huge deal.”

How much did the sinker he started throwing in second half last season help him? More efficient?

“I think so. His number indicate he’s been more efficient. It just gives him another weapon. He’s always been good at throwing the four-seamer elevated, and now he has a weapon where he can sink it away to lefties and sink it in on righties, just to back them up a little bit. He’s also added a slider along with the curveball and change-up. So he just has more weapons now. You can see his confidence on the mound is good. That’s a sign of maturity, a sign of him growing up and becoming the pitcher that people have thought he could be for a long time.”

On him pitching with big lead

“You get a big lead like that and sometimes guys back off, but we were talking in the dugout – OK, let’s go, stay on them, don’t give them any room to breathe. To pitch the way he did was good, it was fun to watch. We needed it and our bullpen needed it.”

More on adding the sinker

“It just makes the hitters have to think about more pitches. When you only have a couple of pitchers to worry about as a hitter you can start to eliminate things. But when you have three or four things going through your head – he might throw this, he might throw that – it just changes you demeanor as a hitter. And he’s done a great job of doing that and continuing to get better.”

On where this ranks among the many great games he’s caught

“It’s pretty good. Other than a perfect game or no-hitter, it’s pretty good. Three hits, and one was a bunt. He threw the ball, commanded every pitch, and was just in complete control of the game.”

**SHELBY MILLER

On if he got the feeling early it could be special night

“You dream about going out there and trying to throw a complete game, especially against a team with Philly, obviously they’ve got some guys in that lineup that have got some power like Howard. A lot of tough outs. At the end of the day you’ve got to make pitches. Any offense out there is great. It’s an MLB team for a reason. A.J. (Pierzynski) called a great game. Defense made a lot of great plays that were the key to going deeper in the game and the offense obviously did a great job of putting up runs. Kept giving me a cushion almost every inning it felt like. You’ve got to go out there with the mentality that it’s an 0-0 ballgame and just try to put up zeroes. This is a fun one.”

You have to be pleased with the way your season is going personally, right?

“Yeah, it’s been good so far but at the same time it’s a game of up and down. You take the positives and the negatives from the good starts and the bad starts. It’s part of the game. Obviously if you feel like you are pitching good there are still things you need to work on, things to get better at. I’m just thankful and staying humble through all of this. It’s obviously started off well but you’ve got to keep being motivated and keep going forward.”

On winning being most important part of outings

“The offense is always going to be there. We’ve got a great offense with a lot of power, guys who can get on base and guys who are going to drive them in. I’m not worried about that at all. My job is to go out there and pitch as best I can and just compete, whether it’s five innings, whether it’s nine innings whatever the case you always want to go as deep as possible. But I’m out there competing my tail off whatever the circumstances, 0-0 ballgame, 9-0 whatever. You’ve got to go out there and compete. That’s what I love to do, that’s why we play the game.”

On giving the bullpen a night off

“They’ve been used (a lot). Obviously they like things like that. We’ve got a great bullpen, guys with a lot of talent that have been a while for a while. J.J. (Jim Johnson) and (Jason) Grilli, guys in the back end who pretty much shut down the game. It’s nice to give them a day off as much as they’ve been throwing. Hopefully we can have a lot more games where we can go deep like that because we’ve got the starting staff to do it. It’s all about putting it all together.”

**FREDI GONZALEZ

On Shelby Miller’s efficiency, effectiveness

“He was right at 99, 100 pitches, complete game shutout, two hits. I think he didn’t get his first strikeout until the fourth inning. He pounded the strike zone, just what you wanted. Today was a great example of a lot of great stuff: first-pitch strike, every time they scored a run he had a shutdown inning, and also pitching with a big lead.

“There was one time, I think it was the seventh inning, where it was a big time until he got back out there, and I’m thinking, OK, this is where it’s going to get him because these guys are not used to sitting around for a long time. But he didn’t. He went right back out there and got the first two guys on his first two pitches. Nice going offensively. Kelly Johnson got his 1000th. An original Brave, and now he comes back one more time and gets 1,000. That’s got to be a big moment for him.”

On if he saw anything different from Miller after he got the big lead

“Nothing. That’s another point. There’s a lot of stuff. First inning, decision inning which is the fifth, shutdown innings, sitting around, running the bases — he did all of that terrifically, he really did. Shoot, he gave us a chance where we gave the bullpen a night off and now we go in tomorrow and try to win a series which we haven’t done in a while.”

**JONNY GOMES

On Shelby Miller’s performance and the offense

“Ironic how we run the bases and play defense and situational hit behind a starting pitcher like that – it truly does set the tone. Again, not a coincidence. Past 100-plus years, games are won and lost on pitching. But you can’t win a zero-zero ballgame. But it sure does make it easy on us when we’re able to get the lead like that. You’re kind of playing with house money offensively, knowing the other side has kind of got to take pitches to get back in the game. They find themselves down 0-1, 0-2, and he’s still pounding the zone.

“So, pretty good game. Kelly Johns goes on the board for a thousand (career hit) same say as a shutout under 100 pitches. I think he (didn’t) hit 20 balls (until) the ninth. So, pretty impressive.”

On Miller continue to pitch so sharp with big lead

“Go further back into the offseason and tip your hat to the staff involved in targeting that guy, to be able to see that that was in there at such a young age. I guess it’s scary for the opponents that this guy’s just getting going.”