WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - COLOMBIA VS MEXICO

March 11, 2023

Jolbert Cabrera

Chase Field

Team Colombia

Postgame Press Conference

Colombia - 5, Mexico - 4 (10)

Q. You talked a lot about the amount of talent rising up in Colombia, young talent, guys the last few years. What does a win like this say about the level of talent and what you've been talking about?

JOLBERT CABRERA: It just reaffirmed that our baseball, Colombian baseball continues to grow. These kids are unbelievable. They're so talented. Like I say before, they are fearless. They are fearless. And they are going to play they're heart out, day in and day out. That's what we're all about.

Q. Julio Urias, four perfect innings, guys couldn't get much off of him. Then right in the fifth, back to back doubles, a homer. What were you telling your guys and what changed?

JOLBERT CABRERA: To stick with it, stick with the plan. We know we're facing a beast. But sometimes good things happen. They keep putting good at-bats. Even though he was being dominant, the at-bats started getting better, and we started seeing a little pattern. And they executed perfectly.

He made a couple of mistakes and the guys, he was going through the heart of the line. We got lucky that way.

Q. Yesterday you told me that maybe the most active in the Team Colombia were the relievers. And obviously they had to try today and they won. Did you win because of the relievers or because of the home runs and the hits that we had today?

JOLBERT CABRERA: As a combination, because without the hits and also the double plays, the pitcher does not have nothing to -- it would be irrelevant because we would have lost the game. It's the combination.

Every single player, they had a part, the ones who run, Campero, the hit in the tenth inning. It's a combination of everything. It's not like, oh, one is better than the other.

Like I said, our relievers, they're going to throw at the zone and we're going to die this way with the best pitches that they have.

And this was a case with Arozarena, Romero, he died with his best pitching. And we have to remove our cap. Arozarena is a great batter.

Q. You guys are off tomorrow. Is that part of your thinking, that you have the cushion to get more out of him?

JOLBERT CABRERA: I say to my pitching coach, Walter, I ask him, we take the lead; do you want him to go back out, because I don't want to expose him if we are still tied. We have another guy ready.

He said, no, we take the lead and the guy. So he showed a lot of heart. Unbelievable performance by that kid. You're going to see a lot of him. You're going to see a lot of him starting today.

Q. In the tenth inning, after the stolen base, you went and asked the umpire about something. Could you tell us what you were asking him about?

JOLBERT CABRERA: I told him the pitch was in the zone. So I just was, just want to check on him to see what he got. He was correct. The answer was correct.

Q. The same question, he had four perfect innings and then a double in the fifth and then the home runs. What do you tell the players -- what did you tell them to change?

JOLBERT CABRERA: I think that Julio is very good and in the training games is very progressive. Once he starts to get into the fifth inning, they're not very effective. He's working on little things.

But I don't think he threw the number of pitches that he got to. But fortunately for us, he had a bad inning and the locations of the pitching so then my boys were able to hit.

Q. The at-bat, walking Arozarena to face Verdugo, and then the way Zuniga blew three pitches right by Verdugo, how impressive was that?

JOLBERT CABRERA: You don't want to take a chance with a guy like Randy, especially the night he's having. He's a fastball hitter. And he's a very streaky hitter. He's having all that crowd behind him; you don't want to take that chance.

I instinctively think about that homer. We didn't execute the pitch. I didn't want to take that chance again. I take my chances with Verdugo against Guillermo any day.

Q. How impressive was that at-bat? He blew three fastballs right by him.

JOLBERT CABRERA: Like I told him when he got to the mound -- we had a conversation yesterday during our practice, and I told him that he was going to be the man that he was going to take us to the next level, because we never have a guy like that before.

Now we've got a guy that's going 99, 100, 101, 102. And he can go toe to toe with anybody.