MIAMI -- Quotes from Braves manager Brian Snitker, Jose Bautista, Freddie Freeman and Mike Soroka after Saturday’s 10-5 win at Marlins Park. Freeman hit two homers and Bautista hit his first homer as a Brave in the sixth inning to tie the game, after his error in the fifth inning led to four unearned runs charged to the 20-year-old rookie Soroka.
**BRIAN SNITKER
On the big plate appearances and at-bats in the two-run eighth inning when the Braves regained the lead
“Those were unbelievable at-bats. I told Ender (Inciarte) his at-bat (a 13-pitch walk to load the bases) might have been the best at-bat of the whole year, the pitches he fouled off. Just a huge at-bat. Tyler (Flowers), too. That was a professional at-bat there to lay off the pitch he did on 3-2. It was just really good the way we lost the lead and the guys kept fighting back, battling back to pull it out.”
On it being a sign of team’s character
“It’s just something that you kind of get used to with them guys, they’re never down. They never quit, they never stop. A bad inning against us, but they just came roaring back. Bullpen did a great job, too.”
More on Inciarte’s 13-pitch walk
“Ender’s was just amazing. And Tyler, too. That was a huge at-bat.”
On Soroka
“He just kept pitching, that kid did. You don’t know if he’s five ahead or five down in the game. He’s got that game face on, he’s focused. I thought he did a real good job.”
You said Walt Weiss told you couple days ago that Freddie was about to get hot
“He hit that on the head. It’s bound to happen with (Freeman). Man, the ball he hit to center field – that’s a long way out there. It’s good. It’s a good win, to come back…. It kind of looked like we had it in hand, then lost the lead. Bautista squared it up for us and that’s a good team win.”
What do you tell Bautista after that error?
“I don’t tell him anything. Nobody feels any worse than he does about it. You’ve just got to be ready to make the next play.”
On Freeman, doesn’t matter if he’s facing a righty, lefty, hard-thrower, soft-tosser….
“He’s going to hit, it doesn’t matter. The guy’s an elite hitter. Has been for a while. I can’t say any more about him, he’s as good as it gets.”
On bullpen’s scoreless 4 1/3 innings
“Real good. Shane (Carle) came in, got his double-play ball. (A.J.) Minter picked him up. Wink (Dan Winkler) has been pitching good for a long time now. It’s huge when you have to come back in a game like that. (Peter) Moylan got a big strikeout there. They all did a good job and allowed us a chance to win the game.”
**JOSE BAUTISTA
How good did it feel to get your first homer and in a good spot there to tie the game
“It felt better that it was, you know, somewhat of a redemption to the error. It’s good to get the team back to an even game at that point.”
How bad did you feel after the error, with the young guy (Soroka) pitching and all?
“I mean, it happens. It happens. Obviously it’s a big situation, they had a lot of baserunners, so it’s not ideal. But you can only make errors if you’re playing in the field. It’s a routine play, definitely one I should have made and I feel comfortable doing. It’s just, sometimes errors happen.”
And you were leading off the next inning, so obviously you had to try to forget about it and move on quickly
“I wasn’t trying to do anything outstanding, I was trying to get on base. But I got a good pitch to hit and I was able to connect.”
On Soroka, what did you think of him in his third start?
“He’s been tremendous. I saw him in Triple-A, too. Everything I’ve seen, he’s been pretty great. So hopefully he can just continue to do that.”
How much more comfortable do you feel at third base now than two or three weeks ago?
“Having experienced some repetitions, it helps. These are the things you need to get better. I have experience, having played there in the past. But because I haven’t played there consistently in a long time, it takes a little bit of repetitions to get back into it, so I’m starting to get there.”
And what about at the plate?
“Same thing. You know, I didn’t have a spring training; I had to get those at-bats in the minor leagues in the middle of competition, which was fine, but the more pitches you see, the more comfortable you get, the more success you have, it just builds on. I’m swinging at good pitches, I’m not chasing out of the zone. That’s where I’d like to stay. The results will come.”
On Freddie Freeman’s performance and seeing it up close now instead of from afar
“It’s not surprising. I mean, he does that year in and year out when he’s on the field. It’s just that much more impressive to see it every day.”
**MIKE SOROKA
On being aggressive again, as he’d stated was his plan after lacking that in his second start
“Yeah, for sure. We set our game plan to come out and not let the other team dictate our pace of play. I thought we did a fairly good job with that and definitely attacked. But it’s baseball, right? So not all things go your way. Sometimes you execute a pitch and they hit it, sometimes you mis-execute it and it’s an out. So, just something to learn from again and keep going forward.”
What did you have going tonight?
“Slider’s back. I felt like it was back to where it should be for command and control. I felt like I could throw it behind in the count. It was where I wanted with two strikes, for the most part. I didn’t throw too many that were just spinners, you know? So that was really encouraging. And to be able to rely on the sinker as well. That was there as well.”
On your manager praising your composure at age 20
“It really goes back to my Baseball Canada days with the junior (national) team, just getting out there and (facing) pro guys at 16 years old. I think that kind of taught me to keep going, because sometimes you’re going to get beat with a good pitch and the only thing you can do is make another one. So, just trying to be like that for the rest of my career.”
Speaking of Team Canada, how nice is it to have Freddie Freeman in a groove like this?
“It’s fun to watch every single night. Not just him, our lineup through and through there’s damage to be had everywhere. Just seeing him in a groove right now is really encouraging as well, and it’s easy to take the mound when we put up leads like that.”
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
How big was it to come back like that from what could’ve been a tough loss after the early blown lead (on the four unearned Marlins runs in fifth inning)
“Yeah, that was early in the game, none of us were worried. That (four-run fifth inning for Miami) was a tough inning for us, but Jose (Bautista) came back with a big home run there and got us right back in the game.”
On bullpen’s performance
“It’s huge, 4 1/3 innings of scoreless baseball. Peter (Moylan) coming in and stopping the damage right there was big for us. And Shane Carle’s been great all year, and obviously Minter and Vizky (Jose Vizcaino) came in and shut it down. It feels like if we get a lead, they’re going to get us a win.”
On the big plate appearances in the four-walk eighth inning (including Inciarte’s 13-pitch walk and Flowers’ eight-pitch walk to bring in the go-ahead run)
“Ender’s at-bat was the game-changer for us right there. He was pumping heaters and he kept fouling them off and fouling them off. That was the first off-speed he threw the whole inning right there and Ender was able to lay off. And obviously Tyler’s at-bat, too, to give us the lead.”
Snitker said Walt Weiss told him couple days ago you were about to get hot, do you feel any different?
“No, I feel the same. Just going out there and trying to put good at-bats on it. The last couple of days the ball’s been going over the fence. Hopefully you talking about this Mark (Bowman) isn’t going to make it stop. So, hopefully tomorrow’s another good day.”
On Soroka
“I thought Mike did a good job, he went back to being aggressive. The fifth inning kind of got away from us, but I felt like he did a good job and hopefully that can carry over five days from now.”
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