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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL B

March 8, 2017

John McLaren

Tokyo, Japan

CUBA 6, CHINA 0

Q. What is in your mind right now for today's game?
Q. That was a tough loss against Cuba. What's in your mind right now?
JOHN McLAREN: You know, I knew Cuba was a very tough opponent. They always are. They are a great country for baseball. I think besides that one inning, I thought we played overall pretty well. We didn't have any hitting at all. And that's a credit -- that's a lot of credit to the Cuban pitchers. We have some inexperienced hitters and they pitched very well against us.

Q. The last tournament in 2013, you were defeated by Cuba, and four years later, your team progressed forward. What is in your thoughts?
JOHN McLAREN: We're getting better. You know, that's our slogan, get better every day. But we're so challenged because we don't have any power, and you know, when you have pitchers like the Cuban pitchers that know how to pitch and throw breaking balls and fastball counts, it's very difficult for us. Our lack of experience showed.

You know, I was proud of the guys. We hustled the whole game, and we made some nice plays. We hit some balls hard right at some of their fielders. But we have to put this game behind us and get ready for the game tomorrow night against Australia.

Q. Let's talk about the game against Australia. Your offense seems to be struggling. What are you expecting for your offense?
JOHN McLAREN: That's a good question. I need to think about it. You know, like I said, we were off balance all night. We're looking fastball and they are throwing breaking ball. It's hard to work on that. You know, it's just game experience, and that's what we lack. We lack game experience.

We're not a team that plays year-round like Cuba and we are not a big baseball powerhouse like Cuba. We are going to take some positives out of this game and get ready for tomorrow night's game, and hopefully we'll have more opportunities to score some runs, because we didn't have any opportunities to score. I mean, they just completely shut us down.

Q. Speaking about the starting pitcher for you, Bruce Chen, he pitched very nice. His pitching count was 49 during the third inning. Is that part of the strategy that Bruce Chen can be a starter against Team Japan?
JOHN McLAREN: That's exactly why we did that. You have to do that in the tournament. We don't have a lot of depth and we have to protect ourselves and give ourselves every opportunity we can, and he's one of our better pitchers.

If he could have gone 80 pitches, I would have thrown him 80 pitches and then worried about bringing him back, but he was only going to throw an inning more, anyway. Israel did the same thing yesterday if you all noticed with Jason Marquis.

You know, this tournament, everything that you can help, even for the next game, we're going to do, and that's what we did. We took a couple pitchers out before they had 29 pitches, also.

You know, we've got to have everybody available. We play three games in a row. We're a little bit at a disadvantage because we don't have a lot of pitching depth and we have to pitch -- we play three games in a row. So you know, we're doing what we have to do.

Q. The last pitch Bruce threw, how happy were you for him -- and not only one, but two outs.
JOHN McLAREN: That actually gave us momentum. It kind of pumped us up a little bit, because that was the last pitch he was going to throw. When you get two outs -- whenever you turn a double play and helps you get out of an inning, it was huge.

The guys were pumped up about it. It was one of the better moments of the game. Before I forget about it, I thought Kun had a little entertainment there when he threw to the plate, runner on second. You know, it was kind of entertaining. We got a good laugh out of it. But yeah, Bruce wasn't real sharp, but he gave us -- you know, he gave us what we needed. We still have him available for the last game, so I'm really happy that he's aboard, No. 1. This is great, not only for China, but his family. This is really a cool deal.

Q. Tomorrow, Team China plays against Australia. Let's talk about Israel, Pool A. Israel got two wins. If China beats Australia, it's going to be another big surprise for the tournament. Do you expect that to happen?
JOHN McLAREN: No, to be honest with you, I thought we had an opportunity to beat Cuba. We just didn't hit.

We've trained well. We've played some good games before tonight in Osaka and Kaga Sima, and like I said, we don't have a lot of power, but we did some things in those games that gave me the thinking that, you know, we could give Cuba a good game. But we just never got an opportunity. We didn't have any baserunners. We didn't get an opportunity to hit-and-run.

So you know, my thoughts are, I know we're not a strong baseball power, but I believe in our guys. We trained well, and we're coming tomorrow night with the thoughts of winning. I mean, that's the only thought we have right now.

Q. Who is your probable starter and what are you expecting?
JOHN McLAREN: It's really inside information, but I'm going to tell you. We're going to pitch Ju Kwon tomorrow, Chinese pitcher from Korea. So it's no secret. Like I said, I'm not going to play games. I'll just tell you we're pitching Ju Kwon tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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