**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Zimmermann’s dominant performance for Nats
“He did a nice job. He gave up two hits, didn’t give up a run. It was a shame because I thought Paulie was outstanding. He gives up three hits, two of them are on the infield, one of them to the pitcher, and he loses the game 2-0. Threw a ball over the plate and Desmond got him, but he was good. Both of them were good. There weren’t very many good swings for either club.”
On if this was similar to what he saw last year from Zimmermann
“Yeah. He’s pretty good. He’s a guy that commands his fastball. A majority (of his pitches) were fastballs today, with a couple of sliders. He came after us pretty good with his fastball. He commanded it so good we couldn’t get to him.”
Are all the strikeouts a concern?
“No. Everybody keeps asking me that same question. I’ll give you the same answers. At a certain time of the game, sure. When you’ve got a man on third base and the infield is back or the infield is in and you need a productive out, you need a flyball, you need a groundball up the middle, sure a strikeout is a concern there. But other than that, that’s what we’re built as. The teams that don’t strike out are probably complaining they don’t have any power in their lineups.”
Encouraging to see Maholm come back like that after his outing in Detroit?
“That was a great start. In Detroit, it might have been the shortest start he’s had since he’s been here, since we got him from the Cubs. And he comes out today, and I was kicking around running him back out there in the ninth. He was so darn good. But we like to keep him right around the 100-pitch mark, 105-pitch mark, but he did a heck of a job keeping us in the ballgame. With our power, our offense a two-run game you’re just a base on ball and somebody hitting one in the stands and we got a tie ball game. But Zimmermann was good and Soriano closed it out for them.”
**PAUL MAHOLM
On bouncing back with a good start after having his worst as a Brave in Detroit
“The one in Pittsburgh wasn’t terrible, but it wasn’t what I wanted. The one in Detroit wasn’t one I want to remember. Tonight, walked the leadoff guy and hung a curveball. That was all they needed.”
What was working for you tonight
“The whole time, except for Bryce and Desmond (walk and homer), I was keeping everything down and being aggressive. I was getting ahead and getting some groundballs and some easier pop-ups. Like I said, I kind of screwed up on some pitches in a row, and they took advantage of it.”
Did eight-pitch walk to Harper soften you up or affect you at all on hanging curve to Desmond?
“If I throw the pitch where I want it to be, there’s a good chance it’s either a foul ball, a swing and a miss, or a groundball double play. I mean, I wasn’t happy with walking Bryce, just because I had him, I think, 1-2. Just didn’t throw a couple of good breaking balls. But I still threw the pitch (to Desmond) that I thought was correct. Just didn’t execute it.”
On the loss
“Two infield hits and the home run. You get over it, take the positives and move on. We can take the series tomorrow if we win, which is the important thing, for us just to get it back going and swing the bats well.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On Zimmerman
“He pounded his fastball. We were a tick behind it all night, and he stuck with it…. He had his fastball going. He mixed in everything a little, but for the most part he was just pounding the zone with his fastball, and we were behind it all night.
“He had his stuff, and we got beat by it.”
On Maholm
“Pauly’s been pitching well for us all season. It just stinks for us when he goes out and pitches so well and we can’t push anything across.”
On being left on-deck when game ended
“Obviously you want to get an at-bat in that situation. But we just didn’t get it going tonight. I feel like we should have had hits a little earlier.”
**EVAN GATTIS
On Maholm
“I’m disappointed we didn’t score and give him any run support. He threw well.”
On Zimmerman, what made his so effective?
“I felt like a few guys were a tick late. He used his fastball well, mixed in a slider and his slower breaking ball as well. He worked fast, had good mound presence, just threw his game.”
**DAN UGGLA
On Jordan Zimmermann
“He really kept us off the bases, kept us from scoring. He’s always had great stuff. He really kind of started coming into his own and learned how to pitch last year. We haven’t really faced him a whole lot since I’ve been over here. He’s got good stuff. He’s a humble kid and from what I hear he works hard. So tip your hat to him tonight.”
On Maholm
“Paul pitched a great game. We just didn’t give him any run support. Both pitchers battled their butts off tonight. Ian took advantage of really the only mistake Paul made tonight. We didn’t take advantage of anything. Zim did a good job keeping us off-balance.”
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