Braves quotes after victory over Marlins

We saw that in the sixth inning. He wasn’t going to come out of that game and I was going to let him (pitch). It was his game, and that was the game. Bases loaded with one out, retired the next two hitters. We got him behind in the eight ball with the error there by Goss (Phil Gosselin) and he competed. Went out and pitched a clean seventh. That’s what separates him from a lot of other guys in the league.

On Jace Peterson showing some pop with the grand slam

Firsthome run and make it a grand slam. We were trying to get the ball, I don’t know if we did or not. We needed that. We didn’t do much the rest of the day. We had some people on base and we couldn’t punch in a couple of extra runs. The way the game was going you knew in that ninth inning (Gincarlo) Stanton was going to come up sooner or later. Roger (McDowell) went out there and gave (Jason) Grilli a little breather and he made a nice pitch on him and popped him up to center field. The bottom of the order between (Cameron) Maybin and (Todd) Cunningham got six hits. ‘Mays’ made a great plan on Stanton up against the wall there. It was good to get this one.

On if there was a thought of walking Stanton

Not with Roger. I talked to Roger a little bit about the situation that came up. It was just to give (Grilli) a breather. But honestly I talked about with our bench coach, hey, with this situation what do you think. It’s just so hard to bring the winning run to the plate. As much as you want to and as much as the numbers tell you, it’s hard. And (Marcell) Ozuna, he ain’t chop liver. He can run one out of the ballpark or split the gap and you lose the game. But we did talk about it.

On Peterson’s last two weeks were what you saw in spring training

We saw it in spring training. He made way over .300 and made the club. He had a tough first month of April but he has done a terrific job just being steady and steady and he’s come up with some big hits. He’s made some nice plays defensively. The one he made in the eighth it was up the middle was not an easy play. He made it look easy on the chopper. He’s a steady baseball player and he keeps getting better and better the more you run him out there.

On if Wood is getting closer to normal self

I think so. Today he battled through some adversity and he did a nice job and he made some pitches when he had to make some pitches.

On winning all five games at Marlins Park this season

I’m not a gambler so I don’t know what the odds are on that. But we play well here. It’s a good place to play. The guys like the field. But we’ve got to get them tomorrow.

ALEX WOOD

On his outing

I think the best way to describe it is I made some pitches when I had to. We’ve still being working on a lot of things and trying to figure it out and piece it together as we go. As long as we get a W and I throw up some zeros, I’ll take it any day.

On if he feels as if he’s closer to where he wants to be

Results-wise (yes). Mechanically on a consistency of those things we are still talking about some things and working on some things. But the results the last two times definitely are encouraging. It’s nice to know while I’m working on some things and trying to figure it out I can still put up outings like today.

On Peterson’s first home run

We gave him some crap when we were in Cincy when he hit that first double and he came up with a big-boy knock today. It’s good to see him swing the bat the way he is.

On if striking out Stanton to end the fifth and getting out of bases-loaded jam in sixth were big moments

For sure. The bases loaded, (Donovan) Solano has good numbers against me, he has a decent approach against me. We were able to throw him three good pitches and get him to fly out. That was definitely a defining moment for me today, for sure.

JACE PETERSON

On his first career home run

Bases loaded, one out I think it was. Just trying to hit the ball hard and it happened to go out. I couldn’t be more happy, for sure.

On the feeling when he hit it

I knew I hit it good. I wasn’t sure if it was high enough, to be honest. But it kept going so I’m very happy.

On the pitch

I was looking for something over the plate. Like I said, I was trying to hit it hard. He threw me a fastball and I put a good swing on it.

On if he ran faster than normal out of the box

Absolutely, until I looked up and was about to touch second and then I saw Cam (Maybin) laughing. It was awesome.

On team’s approach against Mat Latos

I think we see him pretty good. He’s a good pitcher. Whenever we get our pitches we try not to miss them. Hopefully we can keep this going.

On Wood’s outing

All of our starters, every time they come out we know we have a chance to win. All of them compete, all of them pound the zone. Alex had another good outing and I look forward to seeing Shelby tomorrow.

On his last grand slam

Never. First one. Any time you can get the first one out of the way and it’s a grand slam, it’s awesome. I’m just glad we won.