The Braves lost their second series of the year. Now they’ll try to avoid a sweep.
Brandon McCarthy allowed a career-high eight runs in 3 1/3 innings, and his team fell to San Francisco, 11-2.
After outscoring the Mets 21-2 in a three game sweep, the Braves have been outscored 20-6 in two games. The losses deflated some of the momentum the Braves built on their recent 7-3 road trip.
Here’s what they said after the game, with a chance for a quick turnaround Sunday afternoon:
Manager Brian Snitker:
On McCarthy’s start:
“Just one of those nights. We had an inning (go wrong) yesterday and a game today. It’s going to happen. He’d been pitching really good. Just kind of, balls right out of reach, line drives in front, groundballs that beat the shift. He wasn’t as sharp as he has been.”
Offensively, you hit balls hard but didn’t have much luck:
“We undressed some balls. It’s just one of those things. You’re playing catch-up and it’s harder. But you’re going to run through spells, games like that. You just put it aside and come back swinging tomorrow.”
On McCarthy’s inability to stay in:
“I was thinking maybe he could stretch the game (after the second inning). It was a long inning. I think he was hoping maybe he could get through another inning but just couldn’t do it.”
On the team bouncing back from brief rough stretches:
“I’m very confident we’ll come out and win a game tomorrow. We hit some balls hard but again, it’s a veteran group of guys we’re playing right there. You have to make pitches on them. They don’t chase a lot. Mac wasn’t as sharp as he has been. You just get back at them tomorrow.”
On Lucas Sims’ 3 2/3 innings of relief:
“That was really big right there what he did, stretching the game. He was on time to pitch. He had a really good start last time in Gwinnett. This was really good too. He didn’t just sit here for two weeks and then pitch two innings and we send him back. But that was huge right there what he did.”
Starter Brandon McCarthy:
On his performance:
“It was a bad combination. The Giants usually tear me apart. It’s one of those good pitches found bad holes, bad pitches found the ground, hit hard. It was a nightmare from the beginning.”
On the team bouncing back:
“The Giants are – I think that’s a team that has a chance to go a long way this year. That’s a really complete lineup. And that’s me saying it because I just threw a batting practice, but it’s a pretty good group one through nine. For us, you just put it behind you and go out and play tomorrow. Then you go out on the road and do it again. You don’t focus on it too much.”
Catcher Kurt Suzuki:
On McCarthy:
“It’s one of those tough nights where everything they touched found the grass, mixed in with some hard-hit balls too. So it’s one of those nights where you have to move past it. He’s been around long enough that he knows what he has to do. He knows to forget it and move forward.”
On Giants starter Ty Blach, who allowed one run in 7 2/3 innings:
“He was changing speeds. He keeps the ball down really well, mixed speeds. Had a good gameplan against us and pitched well.”
On Sims:
“Lucas pitched well. He came in and gave up a couple hits, but for the most part settled down and threw strikes, mixed in some breaking balls nicely and got ahead. And when he got ahead he pretty much put those guys away so that was good.”
