Cardinals-Reds Game 2 Postgame Quotes

Long Wednesday night at Great American Ballpark saw the Reds get their first win of the season of a final score of 1-0 as pitching ruled the night for the second straight game between the two National League Central foes.

Apr 2, 2014; Cincinnati, OH, USA; A general view of the tarp covering the field during a rain delay prior to the game between the Cincinnati Reds and the St. Louis Cardinals at Great American Ball Park. Mandatory Credit: Frank Victores-USA TODAY Sports

Here are some quotes from the winning clubhouse.

“It feels great from a selfish standpoint. From a team standpoint, it feels even better because it’s just important to get that first one and get the ball rolling,” Price said. “We know we’re playing a good club. It certainly makes for a better feeling tomorrow when we get to the ballpark.” Price earned his first win as a manager.

“To be honest with you, I realized [Cardinals manager Mike] Matheny was waving somebody around, but I was so focused on just getting the barrel on the ball, I didn’t see him standing up the middle,” Heisey said. “Guys were telling me, but I couldn’t have told you where. I was just up there trying to hit the ball hard — sacrifice fly, anything to get the job done.”

“There’s nothing like sitting around for about 10 hours and then getting one at-bat and doing something good,” Heisey said. “That’s the ups and downs of pinch-hitting. You get a hit and you feel great. If you don’t, it’s your one at-bat and you failed. It was nice to get a hit and have it be a game-winner at the same time.”

“He was in a tough spot because Martinez throws that hard sinker,” Price said. “He’s 96-99, 100 mph, powering the ball in close to you. That, to me, is what made it a good matchup because Chris can hit the fastball extremely well regardless of velocity.”

“I was a little jacked up,” said Cingrani, who threw 92 pitches. “It’s the Cardinals and you want to win. There’s nothing else like it — the first game of the season, first time starting up here. It’s pretty good.”

“It hung up a little bit,” said Cozart, who made a similar nice catch in the second inning against Craig. “I was kind of shaded to the middle with Carpenter. I knew Manny was probably going to throw him a couple of sliders, and he got out in front of it. I saw how soft he hit it, so I kind of put my head down to get a couple of sprints in and looked up and was getting closer. I was like, ‘I’ve got to catch this,’ because obviously it was a big part of the game.”

“It’s been kind of crazy the first two days with these 1-0 games,” Cozart said. “We’ve had studs pitching for us and studs pitching for them. I’m glad we were on top tonight.”