SAN DIEGO — Braves quotes from Julio Teheran, Freddie Freeman and Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss to the Padres.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Teheran’s performance, especially after recovering from 36-pitch scoreless first inning
“He was good. He was really good. For him to go out and throw that 36-pitch first inning and still give us six innings, that’s a big outing for him. And he gave us an opportunity to win the game. We didn’t score runs. We haven’t scored in the last couple of games, and it magnifies everything coming out of the bullpen – there’s no wiggle room. That’s that.”
On decision to go with Marksberry, what goes into that decision to use him among your relievers there?
“The decision is, you sit there and talk to Roger and say, who’s got the best chance to get these guys out? And Marksberry has done that. So that’s the decision, what goes into it. Whether it’s the seventh, eighth or ninth, who’s got the best chance to get the job done in that situation.”
How much did you think about keeping Teheran in for the seventh?
“A lot. I really did. But it’s the seventh inning and he’s got 90-something pitches, and he threw the 36-pitch first inning and it’s a 1-1 game, we split a gap there (with pinch-hitter Nick Swisher) and we’ve got the lead. But I did think about (staying with Teheran), absolutely. You have to. The way things are going, you have to try to push those starters as much as you can.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On his performance
“I felt really good with all my pitches, I felt comfortable with all my pitches. That’s what I’ve been doing (in recent starts), trying to throw all my pitches. It feels really good.”
On good slider and curveball today
“When I pitch inside like I have been doing, it makes my slider and changeup better.”
Got a lot of run support early in season, but have actually pitched better in last two months, just haven’t had the run support. How do you feel about strides you’ve made?
“Yeah, I feel really good. I’ve been working. It’s not how you start, it’s how you finish. I feel really good about what I’ve been doing. I’ve been battling the whole season. Right now I feel like I’m where I want to be and just trying to battle and win some more games.”
Did you still feel good after six innings?
“Yeah, the whole game I feel strong, I feel confident, and that’s the most important thing for a pitcher. The homer (by Solarte in the sixth) was a mistake. That’s the only one I made in the game. That’s part of the game. I made one, gave up the homer, tried to take it out of my mind and just get the next guy out.”
Did you try to lobby to stay in the game?
“I wanted to stay in the game. When you’re pitching good you want to stay in. That’s not something I can control, and I know they make the right decision.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On getting back in lineup after 15-day DL stint for oblique muscle strain
“It felt good. It was good for me to be able to get back out there and play. Obviously the timing’s a little off, I was a little off on everything. But it’s an adjustment hopefully I can make tomorrow.”
Nice just to get on base in the first inning, get that out of the way?
“Yeah, I do feel good. I’m seeing everything, I just felt like I was getting started a little too late (with swing). He was throwing 92-93 mile-an-hour heaters and I just couldn’t get to them. So that’s an adjustment I’ll make tomorrow, start a little bit earlier and hopefully I’ll come out and hit some balls a little bit harder than I did today.”
On Teheran settling down after 36-pitch first inning
“Yeah, he looked awesome after the first inning. Everybody’s going to have a tough inning. He only made one mistake, and I thought he did a great job today, kept us in the game and gave us a chance to win.”
How tough has it been to watch offense struggle so much, now be part of it again?
“It’s obviously tough. As an offensive group you never want to go through one of these stretches. But we’ve still got 42 games left, and it can’t keep going like this forever. We’ve been up and down and gone through hot streaks, cold streaks, hot streaks, now we’re in a cold streak. Hopefully when we get to Chicago we’ll start a hot streak.”
On the home-road thing, are you guys even aware of how much worse you’ve been on the road while being competitive at home?
“No, I don’t. I just know we haven’t won here (San Diego) in a while. Obviously we have been playing well at home. Hopefully we can have a nice end to this road trip in Chicago.”
Any way to explain the 10 straight losses here, other than, it’s just baseball?
“It’s baseball. It’s definitely weird. They obviously have a good team over there. They have pitching, a lot of guys who can hit the ball a long ways. We just ran into some tough luck here in San Diego, but there’s always next year.”
