Brewers 8, Reds 7: Ron Roenicke's Postgame Comments

As seen on FS Wisconsin.

I thought we did a real nice job. We had some other chances to get in some runs, but we battled. I like the way we played today.

On Mark Kotsay:

Early in the season I know his batting average wasn't real good, but he was hitting the ball hard early in the season. We went into Chicago and he got a little out of whack there and stayed that way for whatever it was, a couple of weeks, and then bounced out of it and he put together some unbelievable at bats today. To get that last one with a fastball in like that, that was impressive.

On pinch running for Prince Fielder in the ninth:

No, he wouldn't have scored. I know most of the time I wouldn't take Prince out of the ballgame, no matter what the situation. But with Saito being down in the bullpen, with Hawkins being down in the bullpen, we really didn't want to tie the game. So I thought it was necessary to try to get that extra run.

On Zack Greinke's recovery from his early struggles:

Yeah, I thought he threw real well in the last three and, even in the third inning after they loaded the bases with no outs he threw the ball really well. The one hit that they got there, I didn't even see: did they give him a hit there? (They did.) It was a ball we could've made a play on and gotten him out of the inning with nothing. So I thought from that play on he really threw the ball well. Once we loaded the bases there with none out, from that point on I thought he threw the ball great.

On big comebacks and letdowns:

It's a mystery but I think we never feel like we're out of a ballgame, which is really important. I know at this ballpark it seems to be more than at other places but I think that feeling of coming back and always grinding it out til the end is going to pay off, it's going to pay off with a lot of wins for the rest of the season. And there were so many big hits today, especially there at the end, so outstanding ballgame and hopefully it continues.

On struggling to get Reds hitters out:

Oh I know. It's hard to say. Some of these guys, we always look at who's hot and who's cold coming into a series, and sometimes they can change in a hurry. Stubbs came in here cold and had three hits today, so it can change. That's why sometimes you need to figure out, we need to figure out how to stop (Joey) Votto. I know there's really no place to pitch him where you're safe, and certain situations we can't pitch around him because he's got guys on base in front of him, and it makes it really difficult. Then they're covered with Phillips and Bruce behind him. That's why they're scoring so many runs. That's why, lately, they're the best offense in our league. And it's just a matter of trying to figure out how to stop their big boys.

On Marco Estrada's scoreless ninth:

Yeah, it did help us. And he had that little spell for maybe 2-3 outings in a row where he didn't throw the ball well and got hurt, and early, great...after that, he's throwing the ball really well again. And it's important to have him throwing the ball because he's...tonight wasn't the situation because of where we were in the bullpen but normally he's our long guy, and if he can come in and long, and put up a lot of zeroes for us with that offense we'll catch up.