PITTSBURGH — Braves quotes from Justin Upton, Alex Wood, David Carpenter, Jordan Walden and manager Fredi Gonzalez after Wednesday’s 3-2 loss at Pittsburgh.
**FREDI GONZALEZ
Did Wood deserve better?
“Well, you know what. Yeah, obviously. But we start the eighth inning there with a walk and an 0-2 double that put Walden behind the 8-ball there, or even (Wood) himself in that situation. But he pitched good. You hate to lose a game like this, because we had a lot of positive stuff. You’ve got Justin extending his hitting streak, drives in a run. Woody pitched seven (innings) in about (as good) a command of a game as you’ve seen him pitch in a while.
“The eighth inning doesn’t start the way we want it to start and then we lose the game there in the ninth.”
On some bad stuff that happened late, the wild pitch or whatever you call it, and the two Uptons converging and not making catch
“We make that play 99 out of 100 times – 99 ½. We didn’t make it. But like I said earlier, you hate to end a game like this because there was a lot of good stuff. The wild pitch, I mean, I don’t think Gattis could have… He blocked the hell out of the pitch before that, and then the one that got away was even … that was a tough one.”
“We won the series. Got back at ‘em tomorrow in Cincinnati and try to win three out of four there.”
On Alex rising to the occasion
“He does it all the time. And that kid across the way (Gerrit Cole), that’s pretty good stuff for a young pitcher. And they both matched up inning for inning and pitch by pitch. If both of those guys stay healthy, you’re going to see that type of matchup (from them) for a long time.”
Surprised that Walden kept going with his breaking ball there?
“No, that’s his pitch, especially going against left-hander. The split-change, that’s his pitch. We’ve seen him be so successful against left-handed hitters just because of that. It was just a spiked split there, I don’t think Gattis had any chance.”
**ALEX WOOD
Did you feel like you stepped up to challenge against a good pitcher (Garret Cole)?
“Yeah, until the end. It was one of those things where you can’t put your setup guy in that position. You’re in a 2-nothing game, you can’t walk the leadoff guy and then go 0-2 to the only left-hander in the lineup and hang a breaking ball. It has to be buried. If you want to go deep in games and be the best in the league, that can’t happen in the eighth inning. It’s really inexcusable. It stinks.”
On the breaking ball that Snider hit for double
“It was a hanger, the second one I threw him. The other one that he hit earlier in the game was a hanger, too. It can’t happen late in the game. It just can’t happen.”
Coming out of a game like this, do you look at the positives later tonight or wait till tomorrow? In other words, it really seems like you’re down right now.
“Nah, I mean, we lost, there’s not much positives. One minute you’re carving them up, and the next minute you get back out there for the eighth and walk a guy and hang an 0-2 breaking ball. Those things can’t happen. No matter which way you look at it.”
The eighth inning, was it simple end-of-the-game-fatigue lack of focus, or just simply didn’t execute?
“Just not executing. You’ll never catch me not focused, I can tell you that. Just one of those things where I hung a breaking ball and he put a good swing on it.”
**JUSTIN UPTON
On the missed catch E7, with B.J. and him converging in gap
“B.J.’s playing the gap, I’m playing straight up, that was a huge gap there. We covered some ground and just couldn’t get there.”
Could you sense he was there, how close he was?
“Yeah, I saw him. There was nothing you could do. That ball was literally right between, both of us couldn’t get to it. It was just perfect placement.”
So you weren’t affected by your brother being so close, weren’t distracted or anything?
“No. I don’t know, we both go there at the same time. I took the lead and tried to go get it, and it just tipped off the end of my glove.”
Tough way to end what had been a great series for you guys?
“We can’t stop. Games like this are going to happen. You’ve just got to keep your head up and keep going.”
Did either of you actually call for it?
“It would have been too late to call. I kind of jumped in front of him to try to catch it.”
**JORDAN WALDEN
Wood talked about you being put in a tough situation there
“Yeah, well I’ve got to finish the job. Made a bad pitch to Walker, that’s it. It’s tough. I feel bad because Woody pitched his butt off. It sucks to see the outcome of that.”
Looking back, would you have changed pitch selection or anything?
“No. I don’t know. Just a bad pitch, should have executed better. If I’d made a better pitch, it’s a different outcome.”
**DAVID CARPENTER
On the way game ended, Braves blowing 2-0 lead in last two innings
“It was definitely tough. Even more disappointing, it’s a game we should have had. Woody pitched his ass off. You can’t ask for anything more. We just needed a few things to kind of go our way there, and they didn’t. That’s the game.
“We’ve still got to look at it as a positive. We took five straight. We took the series; that’s what it’s all about. If we can win series, we have a real good shot at this. You’ve just got to look at it from that perspective. You can’t let one game stop the momentum we built up. That’s just the way we’re looking at it right now.”
Do you look at it as, that fly ball was just perfectly placed between Uptons?
“Yeah. I mean, you can’t describe it any better than that. Both of them are busting their butts to go get it, and both getting there at the same time, that’s a tough play. That’s one thing I never doubt with any of those three out there, whether it’s Bonifacio in there or when it was Schafer, they bust their butt every single time. It was a tough play for anybody to make.”
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