Braves quotes following their 5-3 victory over the Mets on Saturday at Turner Field.
FREDI GONZALEZ
On putting the ball in play
“We had some nice situational hitting there. Man on second three times and hit the ball to the right side. It just happened it got between (Lucas) Duda and the line. But, hey, we’ll take it. Nick had a big two-out single to keep adding on. It was a good approach at the plate. We’ve been doing that for a while now. I know the season is only five days old but you look back at spring training and guys are buying in to that kind of stuff.”
On Luis Avilan
“He’s throwing his breaking ball over the plate to left-handed hitters. I think he’s doing a great job throwing strikes. He’s getting both sides out. It’s good to see.”
On getting early leads
“It’s always nice to give your starter a chance to pitch with a lead and we’ve been doing that. When we get a chance to add on some runs, we’ve been doing that also.”
On if the start is important to build momentum with new players
“I think so. Winning builds that. I think you saw a little bit of spring training with guys coming together and having fun and pulling for each other. Everybody kind of played today. It’s a team where that is going to happen. It’s a nice team. Everybody is going to play, everybody is going to be involved in the game. Those things are good.”
On Andrelton Simmons ending the game by throwing out Travis d’Arnaud
“On a tough play. He makes all these plays look so easy. (Freddie) Freeman digging that ball out of the dirt he’s one of the best first basemen I’ve ever seen at digging the ball.”
On Jim Johnson closing the game with Jason Grilli getting the night off
“He’s done it before. He’s throwing the ball well, too. It’s a nice luxury to have.”
JULIO TEHERAN
On his injury in the seventh inning
“I twist myself and I just feel a little pinch in the knee. After that, I didn’t feel anything. I had on my mind that moment so my mind changed a little bit. I wasn’t making the pitches like I was making in the six innings before. But I don’t feel anything (now) and that’s the most important thing.”
FREDDIE FREEMAN
On the bullpen not allowing an earned run yet
“It’s awesome. We’ve got pretty much a whole new bullpen this year. What they’ve been doing especially with (Brandon) Cunniff and Cody Martin and Avilan coming back and looking like the 2013 Avilan. He’s been impressive. And Johnson, who was dominant again tonight. It’s been impressive to watch.”
Scoring four runs in fifth with no home runs
“The fifth inning is what we are going to try to do this whole season, what we preached on in spring training. People are just trying to get the job done and trying to move the runner to third base and they were getting doubles and triples out of it. If we can keep doing that, good things usually happen.”
On scoring early
It’s always good. I think that kind of helped us out in Miami with Nick (Markakis) getting RBI base hits in the first couple games in the first inning. It’s always nice to get a lead early. It gives the pitchers more relaxation. They don’t have to go out there and make the perfect pitch the whole time.
On making Mets fans mad with his success against their team
(Laughs.) I only got one tonight. My batting average went down against them.
ERIC YOUNG JR.
On the four runs scored in the fifth inning
Trying to string together some runs right there. Everybody kept following suit. It ended up being a big inning.
On the team doing the little things right
It’s a bunch of new faces here. Coming into spring training, we knew that team chemistry was going to be big. Everybody enjoys coming to work. To have the start we have is definitely fun and we want to build on this momentum.
On the bullpen
Guys are coming in and putting up zeros. They are getting us excited to play defense behind them because they are making pitches.
On the team building momentum and confidence
“We built on it a little bit in spring training. I’m going to keep harping on that team chemistry. We enjoy coming to play with each other. I think that inning we strung together some runs showed that with everybody kind of following suit . The guys in front of them got them excited with their hit and then you go to the plate wanting to do something similar. That’s the way we are playing right now and we want to continue it.”
