**MIKE MINOR
What was difference between walking the pitcher and two strikeouts of batters before him?
“Grip. The rain. I was trying to throw a ball right down the middle, and I walked him.”
Had that been an issue earlier in the inning?
“Just some of the balls I was getting back. I really didn’t complain about it, because both pitchers were pitching in it. No matter what ball I got back, was still wet.”
After walking pitcher, what are you thinking when Ruggiano comes up?
“I’m just thinking, throw a strike. And I gave up a home run.”
Having trouble with grip that whole inning, or even before that?
“Yeah. I think it was more in the stretch (pitching from the stretch with runners on). Because I keep my hand down. So it’s kind of awkward if I had it in the glove. I was trying to figure out what I could do to be comfortable still, with the rain coming down. It was just harder in the stretch.”
Game plan any different because of the rain?
“Not at all. It was the same. I really didn’t have a problem with it until, you know, it’s raining and you have your hand back there, and the rain’s just coming down. When you come up to get a grip and you don’t have a good grip, it’s hard to throw pitches.”
So you’ll look back at this game as a product more of the conditions?
“No. It’s a good team. They’re a scrappy team. A lot of those guys are coming up and they’re battling their asses off to stay there. I’m not saying at all that it was just the rain, and that’s why I gave up the hits or the walk. It could have went either way if it wasn’t raining. It was just harder. In that particular inning I couldn’t grip the ball and I couldn’t get comfortable out there.”
Did you shake off McCann more, throw more fastballs because you couldn’t get grip on some pitches?
“No. I almost shook to a changeup, because it’s more fingers on (the ball), more of a grip. And I didn’t because it’s the pitcher. And then Ruggiano, it’s kind of the same thing: I was trying to attack guys and throw strikes, and it really didn’t work out. That’s when Mac came out there and said, ‘Hey, let’s try to battle through this.’ I told him, it’s gotten tough right now to grip the ball.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On Nolasco
“He threw great tonight. Threw a lot of off-speed pitches, threw his heater when he needed to. Showing in, and off-speed away.”
On the wet conditions
“Just one of those things. We knew what we were getting into. It’s going to probably be the same tomorrow, but we’ve got to play better tomorrow.”
Challenge to hit in rainy conditions?
“It’s always a little challenge, but the pitcher’s trying to get a grip on the ball, too. So it’s a challenge for him. It’s not fun when you see water drops dripping off the bill of your helmet, but the other team’s dealing with it, too.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On the walk to pitcher changing the game
“First off, we have to give our grounds crew a hell of a job done with the rain. Steady rain and the field was playable the whole time so let’s give a little shout-out to those guys who never get any props.
“But you’re right, that two-out walk to the pitcher always seems like it’s, if it’s not in the rulebook it should be written in the rulebook. (??) That’s one of those. But we had some opportunities later in the game. Seemed like their bottom of the lineup did the damage. We were able to control the middle of the lineup, the bottom of the lineup got some runs and they got some add-on runs. So that’s the way it goes.”
On Braves’ ninth-inning brief threat
“When you’re down by four runs, you’re always thinking, it’s a moral victory to bring in the closer. And we did that. Brought in the closer got some good at-bats, scored a run there to make it a three-run game, and just those two runs in the eighth inning – their add-on runs – kind of put a damper on our comeback.”
More on Minor’s walk to pitcher Nolasco
“We kind of touched on it yesterday. It starts so innocently. A two-out walk and bam. It’s the big leagues. Let’s say this, he didn’t want to walk the pitcher. I guarantee you that. But nevertheless that seemed like the key to the whole game right there.”
On what you’ve seen different from Minor last four or five starts
“Nothing. I thought he had a quality start in Kansas City, only gave up three runs in six innings. I thought he had a nice little start going into today, in the fifth inning got himself in a jam, but other than that I see the same game.”
On the recent home runs Minor has allowed, maybe just not gotten away with some pitches?
“I don’t know. I still see the guy that gives you a nice chance to win a ballgame. He leaves the game losing 4-2. And we’ve got a chance to be able to come back in a two-run game. I think he’s fine. I don’t want to go back and say this start, that start. He’s given an opportunity for us to win the ballgame.”
On Nolasco’s pitching tonight
“I saw a guy who mixed his pitches real well, throw his slider, cutter and commanded his fastball both sides of the plate. We hit some balls hard, maybe not off of him. But I thought Jason Heyward, I think he gets one hit the whole night, and he might have hit the ball harder than anyone in the ballpark four times. He gave their club a nice chance to win the ballgame.”
Think the conditions played any part with Minor?
“I don’t think so. Until that one point I thought he did a nice job. And he went back out there for another inning and did a nice job there too. The conditions were the (same) for both clubs. I think our grounds keeper did a nice job making that field playable. Looking at the radar and looking at all that stuff that we were talking about at 4:30, we’re sitting here three hours later saying we got the game in, we would have never thought about that.
“Go get ‘em tomorrow. Hopefully we’ll get that game in tomorrow, too.”
