LOS ANGELES — Braves quotes from Tommy La Stella, Justin Upton, Julio Teheran and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Thursday’s 2-1 loss to the Dodgers.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Kershaw and Teheran
“They were both outstanding pitching today. We out-hit them. Kershaw was able to turn three double-plays, I think. We pushed one across in the ninth, but he’s tough. And Julio was really good. That’s two nights in a row where our starters have given us terrific outings. Usually when you only give up two runs, you’ve got a real good chance to win ballgames. We didn’t the last couple, but really, really solid outing by Julio and also by Woody last night.”
On Kershaw giving up 9 hits but seeming in control all the way
“He scattered nine hits and turned three double-plays. He doesn’t rattle. That’s why he is what he is, he keeps making his pitches. I’m proud of our guys – we kept battling. We kept putting people on base, but we couldn’t keep the line moving. I think the ninth inning was about as close as we got to keeping the line moving.
“Tip your cap to (Kershaw). But I’m really proud of the way we played in this series, even though we lost three games, all close ballgames, all well-played, all well-pitched, and you go down the road to San Diego with three losses.”
On ninth-inning rally with Freeman and Upton coming up with two on
“That’s the guys you want, you want Justin Upton and Freeman and Gattis and them. Tommy La Stella had one heck of an at-bat against maybe the premier left-hander, the premier pitcher in the major leagues, to get a single there and go first-and-third. He made his pitches when he had to.”
“We played good baseball, and they’re playing better baseball. I don’t know how much better we can pitch. You’ve still got three L’s going to San Diego, but you feel pretty good, and I’m real proud of our club the way we kept battling.”
**JULIO TEHERAN
On the game
“I think it was a great game. I had my best today. Couple of mistakes, like a regular game, and they got two runs with that.”
Curveball looked sharp, did you think so?
“It was my best pitch today. I was missing with my two-seamer up in the zone. Everything (else) was working today.”
On the costly hits, was it bad location?
“I think it was location on the Puig homer. On the Gonzalez double I think that was the pitch I wanted to throw, outside. I didn’t want to get behind in the count so I tried to throw it for a strike.”
Was it fun facing Kershaw?
“Yeah, it was fun. It wasn’t that easy to face him. I feel like we had a real battle out there. I was trying to do my best in that battle. I wanted my team to win this game. I did my best to get my team to that point.”
**TOMMY LA STELLA
On last nights, pair of losses by one run
“They had a couple of good arms going. You’re going to run into people like that. They’re a good team, they’ve got a bunch of good players, guys that can swing the bat and make pitches. We had to do the same. I felt like we played pretty good games back-to-back the last two days, but it got away from us a little bit.”
Pleased with how you stayed in there, scrapped for a run in ninth, etc.?
“Absolutely. Pretty much the whole game, we weren’t putting runs across until the end but we were able to scrap out nine hits, off a guy like that I think you’ll take that any day of the week.”
On Kershaw
“He’s got great stuff, and he’s able to throw it all in any count. But he’s definitely got some funk to his delivery. He’s a little bit tough to pick the ball up off of.”
On Teheran
“Outstanding. He did a great job with that lineup. It’s a very dangerous lineup, a lot of great hitters, and he kept them off-balance all night. He gave us a shot.”
How difficult is it to run a guy’s pitch count up when he’s always throwing strike one like Kershaw?
“You said it. You give a guy like that strike 1 and it might be the only pitch you get to hit throughout the at-bat. It’s kind of a tough little battle, you don’t want to be up there swinging at the first pitch all the time, but at the same time you don’t want to spot that guy a strike. So it’s tough.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On getting nine hits vs. Kershaw
“We put together some hits, we just didn’t put together innings. Obviously we put ourselves in position where we got runners on a couple of times and he diffused that. So … it’s still not a win.”
On Teheran
“Julio did a good job and held it to two runs, and we battled. Sometimes you just get beat. I feel like we didn’t give away any at-bats, we just didn’t solve (Kershaw).”
On beating out infield hit that was challenged in ninth to drive in only run
“I could tell it was really close. I felt like I had beat it, but obviously they wanted to review it.”
On playing a pretty good series to have lost all three
“We pitched well, we battled, we scored some runs. It just wasn’t enough.”
**CHRIS JOHNSON
On two one-run losses in two days
“It’s Greinke and Kershaw. When they throw like that, you’re going to lose. The Nationals lost today, so we didn’t lose a game (in the standings). Now we turn around and try to win some games in San Diego.”
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