Braves postgame quotes after Monday’s win over Phils

BEN SHEETS

On not having to dominate with strikeouts:

“Thank God I didn’t have to dominate with a strikeout. I didn’t have one. Getting them out, man, is just as much fun. Still a very tough lineup over there. For me I feel like there’s no let-up. Some of them might not be swinging it like they have in the past, but same guy you know, very dangerous, very good hitters. Glad to get by and get us a victory.”

On the catch from Heyward:

“Great catch, very athletic. Very impressive play.”

On if wanted some strikeouts there that didn’t get or pitched the way he wanted to pitch:

“Any time I’ve got two strikes I’d rather strike somebody out. If you strike them out, they can’t dink or dunk or hit a homer. There were definitely some times I wish I could have put people away but outs are just as good.”

On his progression:

“Just taking it day by day, really and truly. The game is so fast; just trying to slow it down.”

On if thinking you could finish it at any point:

“I’m worried about that next pitch or the next batter. I think there was a time I was looking past that, but really and truly, at this stage, it’s one batter at a time.”

On McCann saying two-seamer was working today:

“Mac just kind of sees what works. Rossy is the same way. They see what works and get into a groove with it.”

BRIAN MCCANN

On Sheets:

“Tonight he really had his two-seam fastball working, down in the zone, threw his curveball effectively, dropped a couple change-ups in there and got easy outs on. He was able to pitch with that fastball, both four-seam and two-seam and he kept it down.”

On McCann on Sheets doing it without strikeouts, if further proof he knows who he is now:

“It’s further proof that he’s got 10 years in the big leagues and he’s pitched in a lot of big leagues. He can attack you in many different ways. It’s not just fastball, curveball. He can sink you down and away. He can throw a slider in there. He can mix in a change-up. When you have two devastating pitches, you have to respect them both. And then he can get easy outs on first-pitch change-up when somebody is looking heater. Tonight was fun to catch for sure.”

On Heyward and Freeman coming up with big hits:

“They lengthen out our lineup. When those two guys are playing the way they’ve played all season long, you’re able to lengthen that lineup a little bit. I keep saying we have a deep lineup. The top half can hurt you and so can the bottom half.”

FREDI GONZALEZ

On Sheets:

“He throws the ball over the plate. For you to get him, you’re going to have to get him. We made some nice plays behind him. We swung the bats the one big inning and we were able to add on some runs.”

On if no strikeouts was a product of him knowing what he had, working the lineup:

“Yeah I think so. His command was pretty good, his breaking ball was pretty good. He had 92 pitches in 7 1/3 innings. You can really tell the experience when he gets on the mound. He does a good job. If they’re going to swing early, he’s going to let them and make outs. They did hit the ball hard a few times right at center field like we did, and I think the wind was blowing in. Even Mac’s ball there at the end, and a couple of their balls hit to straightaway center didn’t go anywhere. He gives us good outings. They’ve all been solid outings.”

On thoughts with him in the eighth:

“We were going to go hitter to hitter. We weren’t trying to push him. It’s only his fifth start after two years. The start before over 100 pitches on normal rest, this time we were going to keep an eye on him. If he would have gotten the first guy out, get the second guy out and keep going. We weren’t going to put him in a (tough) situation. Especially in this ballpark, you’re a base on balls and a bloop from a big inning.”

On Freeman’s two-out RBIs:

“He’s swinging it pretty good. Today Jason Heyward had terrific at-bats. Danny Uggla had a couple knocks. Good overall offensive performance really up and down the lineup. Jani with a double. Uggla had two hits. How about the baserunning from Heyward. We were talking about the guy scoring from first on a double, now he’s scoring from first on a base hit. It was unbelievable. He played until the whistle blew. Schierholtz misplays that line drive and he gets in no man’s land there and he doesn’t stop running and he scores easy from first base.”

On a lot of fun watching him:

“It’s been about two months now, mostly the whole year, but about two months now he’s been really fun to watch defensively, offensively, on the basepath.”

FREDDIE FREEMAN

On the double:

“Nice to get one in there and get the scoring going….With two outs you’re trying to bear down a little bit more. You don’t want to leave guys out in scoring position. I was a little late on the fastball the first two at-bats and I was able to sneak one through down the line there.”

On watching what Sheets has done:

“It’s awesome. That’s a huge pickup for us. He lost that one game but he kept us in it the whole time. He kept us in the game all five games he’s pitched.”

On Heyward’s all-around game:

“He’s an exciting player and everyone is getting to see it. He did it with the legs, ran balls down and then I don’t know if that was an 0-0 slider, first time in a while seeing that guy and it just looked like he was waiting for it (on the homer). He’s just a special player and I’m glad everybody is getting to see it.”

JASON HEYWARD

On if he figured he could catch that gapper in the second:

“I knew there was a great chance especially if it stayed in. I know me and Mike can cover some ground. I think that’s just one of those where we’ve played together just enough to know that I could take a peek at him and know I’ve got this ball if I call it.”

On if not going to stop running to second on base hit by McCann (scored from first):

“I’m running and then once I see the ball down. I didn’t think it got that far away but I’m hustling and hustling and trusting my coach after that. Once he tells me to go I’ve got to run like heck to get home. I guess I heard he thought he had the ball so I was able to get there a little bit easier.”

On Fredi liking to hit him third since he scores from first so often:

“It’s awesome to be in front of those guys, let them hit the ball and not be a home run and still be able to score. I love to run, especially if we’re getting extra runs. It was definitely huge tonight against this team here in their ballpark to get a couple extra.”