MILWAUKEE — Braves quotes from Aaron Harang, Chris Johnson, Jason Heyward and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday's series-clinching 1-0 win at Milwaukee.
**AARON HARANG
Nothing like making a good first impression?
“Yeah. That was an intense game. Fun, but intense. After the first hit, emotions kind of just run out of you for a minute. Knowing that you have a 1-nothing lead, you’ve got to stay in there and regain your focus and keep executing pitches.”
On intensity coming from fact that both pitches throwing no-hitters through six?
“Exactly. You try not to pay attention to that stuff, but I looked up there after six and saw zeroes all the way across for both sides and said, Ok, wow. When CJ had that big first hit for us, got that run, and once (Logan) Schafer got on I knew I had to buckle down because they’ve got the heart of their lineup coming up. The bullpen was able to get me out of that jam and slam the door today.”
Surprised at all, or knew you were capable of doing that right away?
“I felt good in the ‘pen. I was just able to come out and keep them off-balance, keep the team guessing. And obviously you see their guy throwing up numbers like that and you’re trying to do the same thing and give you team a chance to win. I was able to do that and we came out with a victory.”
“I’m drained right now. Mentally keeping your focus for that long is tough.”
Laird had never caught you before, did it take long to get on same page?
“No. I don’t think I shook him off once today. If it was, it was just for location, it wasn’t for a pitch. We’d talked before. He’d seen me pitch before, way back when he was with Oakland and I was with Oakland. Obviously faced him over the years. But we talked about it and got on the same page right away.”
On Heyward’s two great catches and other defensive plays
“The guys were there. I was trying to work fast to keep them from getting flat-footed, and they were out there making plays for me.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
What did you think about the performance of your newest pitcher?
“Amazing. Any time you win a game 1-nothing, all the credit goes to the starting pitcher and the bullpen. They did an awesome job. (Harang) was amazing. Avilan, Carp, and then Craig. So, kudos go to the pitching staff on this one.”
Did you think Harang could still pitch like that?
“Yeah, I’ve faced him a couple of times. He’s tough, man. He was nasty today. He was throwing all his pitches for strikes when he wanted to, he was getting ahead, working both sides of the plate. He was nasty. That was awesome to see.”
“We’re glad to have him. We had some bad bumps in spring training, but we’re glad to have him. He did well.”
On Garza’s performance on the other side
“I mean, the ball I hit was probably the only ball that he missed out over the plate. When he was trying to come in he was missing in, when he was trying to go away he was missing away. Guys like that are hard to hit. It’s like you step in the box and the next thing you know you’re 0-1. He was tough. He’s always tough.”
Nice series to win after losing opening day
“Yeah, it shows that we’re able to turn the page. Nobody wants to lose opening day, but we turned it around and won the series. That was our goal, to win every series.”
On Nationals coming up this weekend
“It’s fun to face those guys.”
On Heyward
“He’s amazing. He’s one of the best outfielders I’ve ever seen.”
**JASON HEYWARD
On Harang stepping up just over a week after signing him
“As a player you just go out there and play with the cards you’re dealt, with the guys you’re given to go through a season with. You want to battle behind them. And for him to come out there and throw like that today was obviously a huge pick-me-up for us. He battled. He wanted the ball. He went out there and pitched, threw strikes. That’s all we can ask for from him. I bet he would have liked some more offense, but the guy on the other side was throwing just as well. It took a lot of defense, but we were able to get one run and hold that game for him.”
On going hard to make the catch when no-hitter still intact, thinking about that?
“No, just trying to do what I can out there. Get a good jump and if I can get to a ball, catch it. Do the best I can to catch it. That last one, we’re playing no-doubles, so to speak, but at the same time I’m thinking I don’t need to take myself out of any plays with Craig on the mound. Was just able to kind of be in the right spot on time, and it took that today to be able to win the game.
“If Gomez gets on (in ninth) there, then you’ve got a lot on your mind, for Craig. You’ve got a lefty behind him and then Ryan Braun coming up next, so to keep that leadoff man off the base, it’s huge.”
Motivated to win another Gold Glove?
“That’s going to take care of itself. If I’m on the field I feel like I’m very capable of making plays like that. I try to read hitters and pay attention to the game enough to be in the right spot at the right time. Whatever they (Gold Glove) vote on is what they vote on, but I know if I play the way I can in the outfield then I’ll be helping my team out a whole lot.”\
Nice series to win after losing opener?
“Oh yeah, this team obviously, history shows they play really well against us here. But in general they play well at home, and it’s nice to get two wins back-to-back, especially one like today, winning a 1-nothing ballgame against three good pitchers. Hats off to a good start to the season, but we’ve got a lot more games left to play and we’ve got some fun to have in D.C.”
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Harang
“He pitched great. He pitched tremendous baseball, really. He gave us a great opportunity to win. Our bullpen was nails; I think we retired every hitter the bullpen faced after Aaron came out. You get that type of start from your starters and hand it our bullpen that did a good job all last year and so far this year, you’ve got a good chance to win a ballgame.
“We’ve only given up, what three runs (four) in this series and ended up winning two out of three? That’s pretty darn good baseball right there.”
On Heyward catches
“Defensively we made a couple of nice plays. You’ve got Heyward over there, B.J. early on running to the ball in left-center; it was a little harder than what he made it look. And so I’m really pleased with going to the off day tomorrow winning a series. That’s what we always ask our team to do, is win series.
“Off day tomorrow, recharge, and then play another important series.”
On Chris Johnson batting cleanup
“Looking into it, you’re looking at the makeup of your lineup and saying, they’re going to pitch around Freeman in certain situations, so who on our team can hit fourth who can put the ball in play, who has a great approach, who’s not going to come out of his approach – and (Johnson) is also a threat. He was second for the batting title last year and he can also do some damage like he did today. He’s your logical choice, and we sat and had a conversation about it, said don’t get out of your approach and try to hit balls in the seats. Stay within your approach. And he has. Today, he was the only run.”
Did you think Harang was still capable of doing that against a pretty good lineup?
“Better than pretty good, really. I only saw him every once in a while against (our) lineup, and you see him do that, you see him fluster hitters. I didn’t realize he could still crank up to 91 (mph). I think he touched 92 once. But I didn’t know that. Good for us.”
