WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL C - CANADA VS UNITED STATES

March 13, 2023

Ernie Whitt

Chase Field

Team Canada

Postgame Press Conference

USA - 12, Canada - 1 (7)

Q. What's the message to Mitch after?

ERNIE WHITT: You know, I put him in a tough situation. So I'll take the heat for that. But he's going to be fine. He'll be fine.

His attitude was if I get him out, it's a bonus. If I don't, well, that's an All-Star team over there. And he knows that he's got work to do.

Q. With tomorrow, looks like a lot of arms are going to be ready for you fresh out of the bullpen. What's kind of the thought process against Colombia, which is a huge game now?

ERNIE WHITT: Coming into the tournament, we knew we had to win three games. And it's just no way that -- if we win the next two games, we will move on. And that was our mindset coming into it.

Yeah, we have fresh arms in the bullpen. We're just looking forward to a quick turnaround and come out and play.

Q. To expand on that a little bit. How much of the decision to throw Bratt tonight was that strategy of saving maybe more experienced arms for those games against Colombia and Mexico coming up?

ERNIE WHITT: It meant a lot. We had to get some innings in, and he was the guy that I chose to do it. It worked a long time ago with Loewen. And it just didn't work today.

We just didn't throw enough strikes today. We walked a lot of guys, behind in the count. When you do that with this type of team over there, you're going to get beat.

Q. After the U.S. jumped out to the big lead, understanding that you're competitors and you want to try to keep that line in line, maybe mount a comeback, how do you make your bullpen decisions there? Is there part of you that's trying to save as many arms as possible for the next two days?

ERNIE WHITT: Yeah, we were definitely trying to save some arms, there's no question. And it's tough to bounce back from a nine spot in the first inning. And let me just put it this way. No one likes to get beat. All right? I'm ticked off that we got beat. But we got beat by a pretty good team over there.

So I'm not worried about that. I keep telling myself, our goal was to advance. We can advance with not worrying about the run differential if we win the next two games.

Q. Looked like you had a nice moment with Adam Loewen on the mound there at the end. What was your conversation like with Adam as he was coming off?

ERNIE WHITT: I was just glad that he came and joined us on this trip what a way to go with a strikeout -- not to say that he's not done, but he's not feeling real well either. So it was a perfect way for him to possibly end his career.