WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL D - PUERTO RICO VS DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

March 15, 2023

Yadier Molina

LoanDepot Park

Team Puerto Rico

Pregame Press Conference

Q. Good afternoon, Yadier. Fernando will be starting today versus the Dominican Republic. Can you share the strategy for today's game?

YADIER MOLINA: Like I said yesterday, this game is the most important in the tournament for us. Fernando can get some outs that we need, we trust him.

Q. Yadier, were you able to talk to the team? Are you planning to have a meeting to pass on a message?

YADIER MOLINA: We already had that meeting, yes.

Q. How about Machín, is back in the lineup? Number two, looking forward to the second round that would be sudden death compared to previous editions. Is that convenient yes or no?

YADIER MOLINA: Machín has to play in the big leagues. He's done well versus Cueto.

And we are focused on today's game. The rules are different, but we have to win today in order to move on to the second round, to the next round, actually.

Q. The pitchers you are bringing, why are you changing the pitchers?

YADIER MOLINA: Just because I wanted to do so. Number two, because it's one day in the bullpen and Fernando has faced this kind of situation, starting in important games in the past. We like Moran first and then we changed for that reason, because we thought that Fernando has done this before.