Braves quotes from Matt Wisler and Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday’s 4-1 win against the Nationals.
**MATT WISLER
How good did that feel after getting beat by them last week in your second start
“Good. I mean to go out there, I think we’ve struggled against these guys for a while, a good win and hopefully our confidence rolls into tomorrow and we get some winning going.”
On first inning, not like him to walk two and strike out three in five-batter inning
“Yeah, I kind of battled a little bit to lefties today with my arm side, fastball was tailing off a little bit. I think most of my walks today were against lefties; I don’t know if I walked a righty. Just kind of not finishing my pitch a little bit, just tailing off on me. Slider and stuff with the strikeouts, was better today. That’s the sharpest my slider has been in a while. I was getting through it a little better.”
On being aggressive against them
“That’s the biggest thing. Last time I was leaving balls up in the zone. Today I finally got down in the zone. That’s what helped me a lot. Couple of ground balls. The one I missed today, he got to the warning track. Besides that I kept the ball down in the zone. My misses weren’t up in the zone over the plate.”
On the four-run inning
“To get the run support like that – obviously they’ve done pretty well against us. But having that fourth run up there, I was going after guys the next half-inning. It’s huge.”
On improved slider tonight
“I felt better with it, felt more out front with it. I just kind of kept that rolling throughout the game.”
On getting his first major league hit, a two-out RBI single
“Yeah, that was awesome. To get an intentional walk to get to me, then come up and get that hit, get myself a run, is big…. To get a hit off a professional, not some high school kid, that’s pretty awesome.”
So you weren’t offended by the intentional walk to Eury Perez? (kidding)
“No, my track record’s not that great. Hopefully they’ll show me a little more respect as we go.” (laughs)
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Matt Wisler bouncing back against the Nationals
“It’s tough facing a team five days from his last start. I thought he did a nice job. Obviously I don’t think he’s the type of pitcher that walks five guys, but he did a nice job. Got some ground ball double plays, kept us in the ball game. We were able to swing the bat get us a couple of home runs, that one inning we scored four runs which we haven’t done in a while. We haven’t put a crooked number up in a while, and against a really rally tough pitcher in Fister. Good defense good offense and Wisler did a nice job.”
On if Wisler may have come out with extra energy after the rain delay
“I’m sure this might be the first time in his career getting a two-hour rain delay. I’m sure in the minor leagues that same situation they bang the game, he doesn’t have to sit around. So there’s a lot of firsts that went on today. First time facing a team that kocked him out in the fourth inning six days (ago) to be exact, but he came out and did a nice job.”
On if he did anything to make sure Wisler handled the delay in the right way
“There’s really nothing you could do because he hadn’t even warmed up. He never warmed up. It was just a matter of him sitting around for 2 ½ hours. So usually he’s a starting pitcher, would be ready to go about 6, 6:15 to get his warmups and all that kind of stuff going, and this time with the rain delay you only get 40 minutes. … So there’s a lot of firsts that he had to experience, but I think he handled it really, really well.”
On A.J. Pierzynski’s home run in the fourth
“A.J. did a nice job. Offensively, obviously, and also handling a young kid (pitcher Wisler).”
On really seeing the quality of Wisler’s stuff tonight
“(We saw) a big power sinker, if you want to call it that…it was nice to see that. Obviously you don’t want to see five walks, but it was a good outing by him.”
On reasoning behind taking Wisler out in fifth
“He labored a little bit and the at-bats were getting better (for the Nationals). That long fly ball to center field after, I think walking that leadoff hitter. I think it was the right move to get him out of there.”
On whom they sent down to make room for Manny Banuelos
“Banuelos will start tomorrow and we sent (Ryan) Kelly down. He did a nice job, and I’m sure, like I told him, I’m sure we’ll see him again.”
On Juan Uribe’s home run
“He juiced that ball. We got two home runs by guys that are older than 34 years old … so it was good to see those guys swinging the bat there.”
On what he’s seen from Banuelos
“I usually just sit back and watch the games and see how he reacts. But we’ve gotten good reports. He mixes his pitches well and I’m looking forward to it.”
