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WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: 1ST ROUND POOL A

March 8, 2017

Hensley Meulens

Seoul, Korea

Netherlands - 6, Chinese Taipei - 5

Q. 2013, you also played Chinese Taipei. Did you have any expectation toward such a tight game tonight?
HENSLEY MEULENS: Thank you very much. You know, we had to play a good game to beat them. They beat us last time in Taipei, in that 2013, and you know, we knew they had some players missing from that roster that weren't here this year, but still, they played a great game. They hit the ball we scored three runs in the fourth there to take the lead and then they bounced right back and scored to take the lead.

Then we persevered and battled and tied the game in the eighth and won in the ninth. It was a great game pitched by them. You know, Chiang pitched a great game, coming in second. We just got some big hits from Didi today, and that tied the game for us there late, and of course, the ninth inning with Profar drawing the walk and the great at bat to give us the victory.

Q. Can you go over that crazy sequence, with the time out call at third base?
HENSLEY MEULENS: Well, we had the bases loaded and Ricardo is not one of our fastest runners, even though he got on base with the infield in, it was a high throw. I wanted somebody with some more speed in the game in case it was a shallow fly ball. They have some good arms in the outfield.

To be able to score the run, as it turned, the fly ball shallow was hit, but I was calling time from way before. Nobody could hear me but the third base umpire saw me coming on to the field calling time and that's why it looked crazy. He's the only one of the umpires that saw me calling time. That's what happened there.

Q. You played with the Korean team and it was a shutout game, and today it was quite difficult. Can you compare the Taiwanese team and Korean team?
HENSLEY MEULENS: Well, yesterday we got great pitching. We didn't allow runs. Rick threw four shutout innings and everybody that followed did their best to not allow any runs. But today JJ struggled with pitches. He had 65 pitches in three innings and that's why we had to go to the bullpen. We brought in Huijer, and he struggled with his command and he gave up three runs. That was the difference between yesterday and today.

We had a little better command, threw more strikes at the beginning of the game and throughout the game yesterday, and today the first two guys struggled with their command. Luckily we put Bolsenbroek in with three scoreless innings to give us a chance to come back and win the game. You could say that was the difference in the two games.

Q. Could you compare Team Taiwan and Team Korea, any differences?
HENSLEY MEULENS: Well, they are both tough. I thought the Taiwanese guys swung the bats better than the Korean guys did. That's why they scored five runs. They had us beat up until the last moment there and we tied the game, and then found a way to scratch a run in the ninth to beat them. But they swung the bats a little better than the Koreans I thought. That's the difference.

Q. Could you talk more about Didi's contributions today, his three doubles, tying the game, his early two run double in the fourth inning?
HENSLEY MEULENS: There's a lot to be said about Didi. He's a trooper. He's a pro. You know, he's not playing defense. He didn't care. He's contributing out of the DH slot. Today was a day that I probably would have played him at short, so they can both play defense. But he didn't care. He prepared. He had done in the cage, made sure he was ready for each at bat.

Essentially it's like pinch hit at bats every time he goes up to hit because he's not playing defense, and you can be really cold when you do that. But you know, our guys are ready. He's a guy that makes sure that he was ready to take every at bat, and you know, he's been hitting left handed pitching great, and he showed it again tonight.

Q. I have a question, in the ninth inning, you have runners on first base and second base, and there was some strategy applied to the situation, right, in the ninth inning?
HENSLEY MEULENS: We were bunting with first and second. First we were bunting with runners on first and the guy got hit, and then got first and second, and Simmons was bunting. That's great instincts, again, from this great player we have playing for us.

We saw the infielders moving and crashing to field the bunt and we never bunted until now. He had the instincts enough to swing the bat through the crash, so the ball went through, ground ball to short went through. And then we have to respect the arm of the center fielder there because he's got a great arm, and we didn't want to make the first out at home. Instead, we decided to, you know, stop Ricardo. Great job by third base coach Ben Thijssen and give Jurickson a chance with the bases loaded and no outs. We were bunting, and he saw the people moving and he decided to swing the bat. That's what we teach him to do.

Q. Can you confirm your starting pitcher for tomorrow?
HENSLEY MEULENS: Yes, Rob Cordemans will start tomorrow.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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