PHOENIX — Braves quotes from Freddie Freeman, Mike Foltynewicz and Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday’s 9-8 loss at Arizona to complete 4-6 trip.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On bullpen’s ongoing struggles
“They scored a run after the starter came out almost every inning except the bottom of the ninth, because they didn’t hit in the bottom of the ninth. Ten-game road trip, I think our bullpen got exposed a little bit, or some areas of the bullpen got exposed. We need to fix that. We need to figure out a way, I need to figure out a way, a combination, to get the ball to Grilli’s hands, somehow. It’s tough losing games like that.”
The errant throw by Johnson, trying to get runner at third, add to the frustration?
“He’s out at third, or we get him in a rundown. It was just a bad throw. We were trying to keep him in the game and keep it a one-run game, because we had the middle of the order coming up for us in the top of the ninth. And sure enough, that one run made a big difference, because Pierzynski hits a home run and it could have been tied.”
Middle of lineup got overshadowed by the losses, but Markakis, Freeman are really swinging the bat well
“They sure are. Even the top of the order today with Maybin getting back in there. He got a couple of hits, scored a couple of times. His legs are fine. His first at-bat he ran down and beat the throw to first base. The offense is swinging the bats, it really it. This is baseball. A week from now we’re going to be pitching lights-out and the offense is not going to be scoring. That’s usually the way it goes. But we’ve got to ride this wave of our bullpen struggling a little bit, and we’ll come out on the other side.”
On the road trip
“We went 4-6, and we had a chance to go 6-4, maybe even better than that if we get some of those innings that they scored, some of those middle innings, we get some shutdowns there.”
On Foltynewicz
“He did OK. For a young kid you’re going to expect some outings like this. There were a couple of things during he course of the game, as he gets more comfortable and gets a little more maturity, those are the things he’ll eliminate, because he’s a really bright kid and the learning curve is short.”
What can you do with the bullpen, with pieces you have?
“I don’t know. We’ll figure it out.”
**MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ
On his performance
“I thought I threw the ball fine. There were a lot of two-strike pitches that I wish I could have back; I left a lot over the plate, and major league hitters are going to put the ball in play. Other than that, I battled the whole five innings and gave up some infield singles. The outfield did great running down balls for me, and the offense exploded. So overall it was a good day.”
You had progressed in each of your last few starts before this one. Any good things you can take from this one?
“Yeah, there’s some good things. I thought I attacked the zone well. Had a couple of walks, but other than that I attacked the zone and got ahead of guys. But like I said, just those two-strike pitches, they’ve got to be better located. Other than that, there were some positives to take out of it. Go home, get a good bullpen session, work on some things, and go from there.”
Key to beating Arizona keeping their first two hitters off the bases before the big guys?
“Yeah, also in the third inning that two-out walk (Goldschmidt) kind of got me. Other than that, I was just trying to stay aggressive, and I left a couple of pitches out over the plate and it cost me. So, I’ve just got to locate them pitches better next time and go from there. It’s definitely a learning curve.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On his swing, after two-homer game Wednesday and five homers in six games
“It feels good. It’s been a work in progress for a few weeks, and it’s starting to all come together.”
You talked before series about how well you hit here, did you see the ball as well as you hoped you would here?
“Yeah. Obviously I got robbed a couple of times yesterday, but I’ll take it – those are balls hit hard to the other side. So hopefully even with this day off tomorrow, I can carry it over to the weekend series.”
Bullpen struggling now, but several hitters including yourself, Markakis, Maybin and others are swinging well
“Yeah, the offense is swinging the bat really well right now, so hopefully this off day doesn’t cool us down. But I like what we see. We’re putting up runs and we know the pitching staff will come around.”
Frustrating at all to see the leads blown, the bullpen struggling, or do you know they’ll come around?
“No. We know they’ll come around. They’ve always been there. Roger (McDowell) will work his magic. This bullpen takes a lot of pride in their job. We know they’ll get going.”
On 4-6 trip, Fredi G saying it could’ve been 6-4 easily
“Yeah, definitely. We played good baseball this road trip, and that’s all you can really ask for. If a couple of things fall our way here and there (on the trip), we’d have a winning record.”
On the defensive shifts he faces
“I don’t think about it. It’s hard enough to try to hit the ball without trying to worry about where the fielders are. I just view that as, just put it away and just try to hit it and make hard contact.”
