DENVER — Braves quotes from Mike Minor, Justin Upton, David Hale, Chris Johnson, Freddie Freeman and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Tuesday's wild 13-10 win at Coors Field.
***FREDI GONZALEZ
Satisfying to win, but can’t be a lot of fun going through game like that?
“Kimbrel was terrific.” (Smiles) “Let’s start with that, because he was.”
“We’ve all experienced these games (at Coors). You’re never out of it. We go out and score seven in the first inning and we need a shutdown and we didn’t get it – I don’t think Mike got a shutdown inning in his whole outing. It’s just a tough outing (for him). But we had a lot of good stuff happen.
“We swung the bats well, David Hale came in in those middle innings and kind of quieted it down a little bit. Avi made a couple of big outs. Then we let then back in with three bases on balls with Walden. And I’m going to give that to, he’s rusty. It’s not the same pitching on the major league field to pitching in a couple of rehab games in Triple-A.
“Again, Kimbrel was tremendous. Offensively we scored a lot of runs. Hopefully that will continue.”
Nice seeing Johnson have a couple of three-hit games after his long slump?
“Yeah, he’s swinging the bat good. Gatty, he’s been swinging the bat good. And we were able to get some add-on runs later, too. That’s good. I’ve been in this office many times in that same situation with the loss hanging over your head. Our guys battled.”
On Justin Upton’s hamstring strain and first-inning exit.
“That was more my (call). He said he could have played through it, but this is a big outfield. He and Jeff Porter, our trainer, said the same thing, that it kind of comes up (hamstring tightness) every once in a while, and he may show up tomorrow and say ‘I’m ready to play.’ But I just didn’t want to take a chance of running him out there in this big field and making (an injury) that’s small worse than it was.”
Did it help your decision that it was 7-0 at the time?
“No, that didn’t even matter. I wanted to make sure he wasn’t going to get hurt more.”
On being aggressive all night, taking extra bases, etc.
“We never stopped playing the game. The Colorado Rockies don’t stop playing the games – you saw them stealing bases, taking extra bases, trying to bunt for a base hit. And they’ve done this for many years, and they play 81 games here. They know how to play that game. Fortunately, we have a lot of guys who’ve played that game here also. You don’t give away ABs, you keep playing hard, because you just never know.”
Surprised that Minor would struggle like that again here, like he did a couple of years ago, even after a 7-0 lead?
“It doesn’t surprise me, nothing surprises me in this ballpark. Because it is what it is.”
Simmons again, comes in and gets a couple of the biggest outs of the night in another pressure situation
“I don’t think he’s had an easy inning since he’s been up to the big leagues. I really don’t. He’s had some difficult situations where he’s come in to pitch, and he’s done well.”
**MIKE MINOR
You’ve said that Coors Field doesn’t make that much of a different, but was it different tonight?
“I don’t think so. I just think I wasn’t making quality pitches early on. Later on I felt like I was making better pitches but just couldn’t get out of jams. I’d get one or two outs and then give up a base hit, then a triple or a double. Guys were scoring all night.”
Did it feel like it just kind of snowballed on you, after you got the big lead?
“Yeah. We went out there, me and Gattis, before we walked out we said we’re going to act like this is a zero-zero ballgame. It was obvious I couldn’t throw a curveball for a strike. They eliminated every off-speed pitch, and they fastballs, I was barely missing with those two. I couldn’t throw them over the plate. Just one of those nights.”
Did you have a tough time getting any rhythm?
“I felt good. Like I said, I just couldn’t make quality pitches. They have a good lineup, and they made me pay.”
On whether altitude, thin air affected his curveball like other pitches say it does here
“I thought I threw some good ones. The home run, I don’t think (the pitch) broke at all. But I thought I threw some good ones…. It’s more of a feel. Maybe (the ballpark affected it) a little bit.”
On overall night
“I’ve seen plenty of games like this before, and to be honest, the positive is I walk out of here feeling good for my team because we got a win. Me and their guy (Nicasio) weren’t very good tonight. And it’s tough to pitch here, and those guys (Rockies) are raking pretty much at home. They hit really well here. So I walk out of here feeling pretty good just because we got a win, and I know I can bounce back.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
Did you think you could have kept playing with the hamstring hurting?
“I think I could have managed it throughout the game. It’s one of those things where he just didn’t want to take that risk.”
Possibly play tomorrow? Or next day or two?
“Next day or two, for sure. I don’t know how it’s going to feel tomorrow, but I’m optimistic that if it’s not anything too serious … we’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Hurt it running to first on the ground ball?
“Yeah, just some discomfort once I got about halfway down the line. Finished out running the bases. I was just moving around a little gingerly on it, so they were asking me about it when I came back in, and just decided to (have him) take the rest of the night off.”
On the team’s seven-run first inning
“We came out swinging and hitting the ball around the field. It was good to see that out of this lineup.”
Can be kind of fun playing here for hitters?
“Yeah, both teams had a lot of fun tonight. I’ve seen it a few times, some days you just come out here and balls are going to the gaps and it can be some high-scoring games.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On the offense coming alive
“Yeah, it’s fun. It’s a lot of fun. It’s only a couple of games, but it’s nice to break out and get some production.”
You get RBI single in Arizona, back-to-back three-hit games here, feel like you might be starting to feel it a little finally?
“I’m going to try not to (think about it). I’m going to try to just keep working. I’ve been working on a couple of different things and trying to simplify and keep my bat short. It’s worked the past couple of days, but I’m still not where I want to be.”
Night like this fun, or stressful, or what?
“Yeah, it’s fun. They’re all fun. It’s a lot of fun, especially being an offensive player, being able to go up there and bat around and score a lot of runs. Things like that, everybody’s in a good mood. Because just about everybody got a hit and did well. So it’s a lot of fun.”
On Gattis’ ongoing surge
“He’s a joke. He’s good, man. He’s awesome. He’s so strong. His approach is getting better and better, and when he swings at strikes the ball rarely stays in the ballpark, no matter where we’re at.”
**DAVID HALE
You got a win, your first hit, big night for you?
“Yeah, not bad. I’ll take it.”
On entering the game, such a weird night
“Yeah, it was strange. I guess that’s the Colorado air for you. But I was glad to get in there and get some longer work. Haven’t had that in a while, so it was nice.”
On Colorado air, the Coors Field effect, you think about that when you’re out there?
“Of course. You try not to think about it too much, but everybody talks about how your sinker doesn’t sink as much. The ball flies, and you see their batting averages and, you know, that’s in the back of your mind. But you try to push it out.”
It didn’t seem to have an effect on you
“Yeah, I was glad I was able to get a little sink on it, which is good, and keep the ball down for the most part, not let them get it into the air.”
Fun game, or stressful?
“A little bit of both. I got my first hit, so that’ll be the fun part about it.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On the offense
“Seeing Evan and Chris swing the bats like they are, it’s a huge boost for us.”
How much fun to be part of a game like that
“When we’re in the dugout it’s fun, but when we’re on the field and they’re scoring the same amount of runs that we are, it’s not that fun. But our pitchers did quality work today, our bullpen came in and shut them down. Hale was awesome tonight.”
“Maybe that’ll get us going and we’ll get some more runs on the board tomorrow. You never know what can happen on this field.”
You hit a couple of balls hard the last couple of days, starting to feel better?
“I feel the same. I’m not getting any results the last few weeks, but that’s baseball. Got to keep treading water and hopefully I’ll get hot here shortly.”
