DENVER — Braves quotes from Julio Teheran, Andrelton Simmons, B.J. Upton and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday's 8-2 loss at Coors Field.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
Did Teheran’s first-inning woes have anything to do with grip on the ball or anything like that?
“No, not at all. He didn’t really get hit hard. Yesterday was balls flying, and today was balls in front of our outfielders, it seemed like, a couple of times. Couple of bloop singles and they kept putting the pressure on, running the bases well and taking the extra base, going first to third.
“You just never know. You don’t know where you’re going to play here in the outfield, it’s so big, so spacious. Sometimes you play too deep and the ball falls in front of you, sometimes you play normal and the ball goes to the cap or over your head. But I think it wasn’t the feel for the ball or any of that kind of stuff.”
On Matzek, who didn’t give up a hit until fifth inning
“He did a lot of good things for them. He pounded the strike zone, he swung the bat. He looks like a hell of an athlete, can run the bases. You come in here and read all the stuff that he sprays it around a little bit, but I don’t think he walked a batter. Gave them a hell of a start.”
Was it somewhat a matter of facing him first time, not knowing him?
“He has good stuff. You know, 94-95 mile-an-hour fastball. The whole day we were talking about, hey, this guy sprays it around, be patient, be patient. I’m not sure how many three-ball counts he got into, if any, really. You can see he’s got a good fastball and he had the secondary pitches working for him today.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On his performance, what went wrong
“I mean, it wasn’t my day from the first inning. Couple of mistakes. It just wasn’t my day.”
No problems with grip like in San Francisco?
“No, I didn’t have any problem with the grip or my pitches. I got my good stuff. Couple of bloopers they got me for a couple of base hits.”
Did the size of the ballpark affect you, the way the ball carries?
“I don’t know what affected me. I was concentrating on making pitches, and I did. I got a couple of bloopers that … I don’t know how they play in this park. I was just trying to do my job.”
In the first inning, what mistake?
“The one double, I think that was the big mistake I made in the first inning. But after that I was trying to compete the whole game. I know it was a tough day for me, but I’m just glad I was able to compete through six innings.”
The pitch to Stubbs in first inning, what was it?
“The slider. I’ve been making mistakes with that pitch. Same thing happened in Miami. It’s something that just happened. I can’t do anything now except try to work on it.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
Did not knowing much about this pitcher, never seeming him before, affect you guys?
“His fastball was a little sneaky to me. I felt like we were a little late on his fastball; I mean, he was throwing hard, it had a little extra to it. He was pretty good. But we didn’t do a good job of hitting the strikes. He didn’t do much. He threw a fastball and slider the whole game pretty much, and we didn’t hit. Got to give him some credit, but we’ve got to take some blame, too. We’ve got to be better.”
Seems like guys you’ve never faced, young pitchers or whomever, give Braves more trouble than established guys
“I don’t know. Sometimes you’re more comfortable facing some guys knowing how they approach you already. And sometimes if you haven’t seen them you hit them well, and sometimes it goes the other way like today. But you can’t pick (Matzek’s) stuff up.”
**B.J. UPTON
On Rockies pitcher Matzek
“He pitched well. It’s just tough to have an approach against somebody you’ve never seen before. But yeah, velo was up there. I didn’t really see much off-speed from him. He threw a couple of good sliders. Just kind of tough to get a gauge on a guy after one start.”
On some balls that landed for hits in front of outfielders
“This field is so big it’s kind of tough to know where to play. But it seems like they (Rockies outfielders) kind of pinch the gaps pretty well; they kind of give you a lot. Maybe that’s the approach we’ll take. I don’t know, it’s just so big out there it’s tough to get a gauge on where to play. If the ball gets in the gap it’s pretty much a triple here because the gaps are so big. Maybe that’s an adjustment we’ll make tomorrow. We’ve definitely been looking at how they’re playing us, maybe we’ll go from there.”
