SAN DIEGO -- Braves quotes after Wednesday’s 3-1 loss to the Padres in a series finale at Petco Park.
**FREDDIE FREEMAN
On challenge of facing all relievers, five of them, in a Padres bullpen game
“Definitely not normal, when you get into a rhythm and know you’re going to face (a starter) at least two or three times. It kind of worked for them today. For us hitters it’s definitely tough to get into a groove.”
And they have a pretty tough bullpen, too
“Yeah, they had a righty, (Kirby) Yates, whose split-finger can neutralize lefties. Obviously Brad Hand can neutralize anybody. They had some good arms come in today and shut us down.”
On Foltynewicz’s performance
“He was good. That’s what good pitchers do, they give you a chance to win every time. I’m sure he wasn’t as efficient as he wanted to be, but five innings, he gave us a chance to win. We just didn’t get any runs for him. ...
“He’s been consistent for us all year. He’s pitching like an ace and has been giving us a chance to win every single time he goes out.”
**MIKE FOLTYNEWICZ
On Padres working counts more than Nationals did in his 2-hit shutout against them last week
“They were really patient today and I just didn’t really throw pitches to get ahead of them early today. I stayed aggressive, the second inning I just left one bad slider over the plate. They put the ball in play when they needed to and just did their job. Fastball command wasn’t really there, slider kind of helped me get through a few innings, especially in some big situation. Overall a little weird day, but definitely happy to keep their lead where it was.”
On getting some big K’s when Braves needed them today
“I was spotting a little 95, 96 (mph) today, just kind of getting them to roll over. But when I got two strikes I had that in my back pocket. I was happy to see that, just one bad pitch and that was a slider to (Cory) Spangenberg that started a little rally there. (Hunter) Renfroe with the little base hit up the middle (before Spangenberg’s triple). They did their job, but just to get out of that inning – it (lead) could have been expanded a little more, so I was happy to get out of that with two runs.”
On feeling weird coming out after five after going nine innings Friday
“Yeah, especially when I was talking about being confident and all that stuff (coming off the shutout). But overall, there was probably a couple of situations where we could have got the pitch count down a little more. I was trying to get the double play against a guy who’s very quick, drove the pitch count up there a little bit in the second and third. Need to think about who’s on deck and all that kind of stuff, maybe could have gotten the pitch count down a little and got to the sixth, maybe the seventh.
“Back to a broken record, not happy about going five. But that’s the way things went out there today. I was happy to come out with only a 2-1 (Padres) lead like that.”
On Padres using all relievers, how tough that was for Braves hitters
“Especially in a day game, it was real bright out there. It was just a little different, you just can’t get in a groove when they’re just bringing in a bunch of good arms like that. So tip of the hat to them and we’ll get back at it in L.A.”
**MANAGER BRIAN SNITKER
On challenge of facing all relievers
“Yeah, because it’s somebody different almost every at-bat (for each hitter). Glad you can only do that every once in a blue moon.”
On Padres having a good bullpen to work from
“They have some good arms down there, and some good ones coming in the minor leagues. But those guys we saw down there today – and they didn’t even use one of them. That starter (Matt Strahm) had a really good arm. It was just tough. ...
This was a tough game. You’re going to have those. Take a day off and then regroup, and hopefully we go to L.A. and win a series.”
On Foltynewicz
“We just couldn’t do enough offensively. Folty did a good job, high pitch counts notwithstanding. He did a good job of keeping the game there for us and giving us a chance.”
On Padres closer Brad Hand
“His breaking ball, he’s relentless with it. He just knows how to pitch. He’s a former starter so he’s got some pitching savvy when he’s on the mound, and it’s not one or two pitches. He knows what he’s doing. He’s really good and it’s a hard at-bat. ...
“He’s tough. I mean, he gave up the leadoff double and struck the side out. Hat’s off to him, he did a great job.”
On Freddy Galvis’s squeeze bunt bringing in an insurance run in eighth
“Yeah, it was big. We were just sitting in here talking about how he bunted it about as good as you can. And you knew something like that was coming too. You knew it was coming and we still couldn’t stop it.”
On Ronald Acuna and whether anything new to report on his rehab schedule
“He’s just still doing really good. Talking to George (Poulis, Braves head trainer), tomorrow or the next day they’re going to try to get him off a tee. He’s progressing exactly how they want him to and at the end of the week they’re going to start introducing some baseball activity. ... It’s just a day-to-day, I’m not even going to put any timetable on it because I don’t know.”
