LOS ANGELES — Braves quotes from Justin Upton, Alex Wood, Andrelton Simmons and manager Fredi Gonzalez after the Braves’ 3-2 loss to the Dodgers Wednesday.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
On Wood and Greinke
“It was one of those old-fashioned pitching duels. And it ended up that way. We lost a one-run game in extra innings. Greinke was outstanding, what did he end up punching out, 11 or 12? (13). Thirteen? And Woody matched him. He made a pitch to Kemp and that’s the only run he gave up. He gave us a great outing.”
On offense
“Justin, what did he have, three hits? His home run tied the game up, and we had some opportunities. We get picked off at second base there. We were running; let’s not forget that. We were going to try to steal a bag there off of J.P. (Howell), because you could. But the move there, it wasn’t one of the best inside (pickoff) moves I’ve seen. It was a bang-bang at second base, that’s why we challenged it. Nevertheless, I would have liked to take a shot at getting a base hit with a man on second base there.”
More on Wood getting out of jams
“He made some great pitches, and against a tough lineup, a predominately right-handed lineup. Every time he goes out he gives you a good opportunity. You see the competitive spirit in him, you see a guy making pitches, not wanting to come out of games. It’s nice to see that.”
Did you think Simmons was going to be able to make one of his great plays and get the out at home?
“Yeah. He kind of got jammed a little coming out of the glove; if not it’s a little different ballgame. But you expect so much out of him sometime that when he doesn’t make a play like that you kind of scratch your head. But that’s a hell of a play just to even get to it.
“It’s a one-run game there, we were facing their closer, and Justin had a great swing at that ball.”
Simmons was grimacing after that play, are you concerned about him?
“No, I haven’t seen Bubba (head trainer Jeff Porter), but (Simmons) played two or three innings after that. He was probably more upset that he didn’t make that play.”
On Kemp’s resurgence
“He is dangerous at the plate, and he’s swinging at the plate like he did a year and a half ago when he almost won the MVP.”
On positive that can be taken from game despite the tough loss
“There really were a lot of good things. And facing one of the toughest right-handed pitchers in our league. Tommy made a couple of nice plays, Justin got three hits … there was a lot of good stuff.”
Do you think B.J. has regressed at all, after making some strides there for several weeks?
“No, I think he just faced some tough pitching tonight.”
On Hale, did you go with him there just because felt he was the best option available?
“That’s exactly right. He’s a guy that could give you two or three innings depending on how the lineup rolls. And he’s your best option – in my opinion. I may be completely wrong on that.”
**ALEX WOOD
On how he came away from the 10-inning loss and his strong outing
“It’s disappointing. I thought we battled our butts off all night, and Greinke’s pretty impressive, man. You forget how good he is until you see him again. Sometimes you’ve just got to tip your cap. I was happy I was able to kind of go toe-to-toe with him for seven innings. It felt like a playoff atmosphere, it felt like we were back here in October like we were last year.
“Sometimes it ends up falling your way and sometimes it doesn’t. Just hits a huge home run there in the ninth inning off pretty darn good closer. Tommy had two big plays where he kept the ball in the infield when I was throwing early on, and kept a run from potentially scoring and I was able to get out of it. I felt all-around it was a pretty good ballgame on our part, we just ended up on the wrong side of it.”
You made the one mistake to a hot hitter (Kemp), but pretty pleased with how you worked out of some tight spots?
“Yeah, for sure. I made that one mistake to Kemp, and boy is he locked in right now. He’s pretty locked in and any time you get a hitter who’s capable of doing what he’s doing that locked in, you’ve got to be careful. He made me pay for it early on, but we were able to manage it and keep the ballgame tight the rest of the way.”
On showing some emotion after Ellis strikeout in 6th; did the atmosphere of the game play in to that?
“One hundred percent. It’s still in the back of my head the way my last outing ended against the Dodgers last year, so I came in tonight wanting to kind of re-establish myself and put up some zeroes and throw well, especially against a guy like Greinke. I always enjoy pitching against guys like him, because it shows me that I can go out there and go toe-to-toe with a guy like that. Because, I mean, he’s as good as it gets.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On his ninth-inning homer
“The home run put us back in it, we felt like we had a chance. They came up with the big hit.”
Greinke was dominant, but you put together some good at-bats against him, had a couple of hits off him
“I got some pitches I could handle, and I was able to square them up. He was tough on us tonight. We couldn’t push any runs across on him. He’s done that all year. We’ve just got to regroup and come back out tomorrow.”
What did you think about Alex Wood?
“Woody stepped up for us. He matched Greinke pitch-for-pitch, kept the game to 1. We just couldn’t put together that inning to push the other run across. He didn’t seem fazed by playing here in L.A. He went out there and did his job. We just couldn’t put anything together for him.”
On losing some games lately against division teams or possible playoff opponents
“We’ve got a lot of baseball left. I mean, we’re going to lose ballgames. You just try to win more than you lose.”
**ANDRELTON SIMMONS
On his throwing shoulder
“I’m OK.”
Did you jam it, and if so, how?
“I didn’t jam it. It’s July. Something’s going to be barking. (The shoulder) has been barking, but not anything major. After that throw (to the plate from outfield behind second base) it kind of barked a little more. But it calmed down after that.”
From throwing hard, off-balance?
“Just a lot of effort (required on the throw). It’s been a little annoying, where anything extra makes it … it lets me know when I try to put extra on it.”
On the play, trying to throw out Kemp after making diving stop behind second base
“I knew he was going, I just couldn’t get my foot set, my angle or anything. I couldn’t get anything behind the throw or make an accurate throw.”
On Wood
“Awesome. He pitched. Like, some days guys have good games, but he battled, he pitched. He got some runners on and made pitches. He did everything. He pitched awesome.”
On Greinke
“He was really good. He was nibbling, he was hitting his spots. I thought he was getting some calls a little off (the plate), but I mean, he was on tonight.”
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