World Baseball Classic: Pool D - Israel vs Venezuela
Saturday, 7 March, 2026
Miami, Florida, USA
LoanDepot Park
Team Israel
Manager Brad Ausmus
Postgame Press Conference
Venezuela 11, Israel 3
Q. How do you get your guys to bounce back after a loss like that?
BRAD AUSMUS: That's the one thing about baseball and baseball players. We have games almost every day, and you get very good at putting last night or yesterday in the rear view mirror and just keep looking out the windshield. This one will be flushed and we'll be ready to go tomorrow night.
Q. I know you have a starter for tomorrow. Do you have anybody scheduled for Monday?
BRAD AUSMUS: Right now we just have Dean on the docket.
Q. (Inaudible) out of the pool and do you think that you need to run the table to advance?
BRAD AUSMUS: Yeah, possibly. We're just going to -- right now we have Nicaragua in front of us. I don't like putting the cart in front of the horse, so that's the focus. Certainly need to win tomorrow.
Q. With some of the power hitters in Venezuela's lineup, how surprising was it for Arraez to be the one to hit two home runs and what do you think about what he's been able to do in the series so far?
BRAD AUSMUS: It was kind of the Luis Arraez show today. He's normally more of an average type hitter. Average in terms of batting average. But yeah, he was driving the ball today. Had the year early gapper and then the two homers, and then the last hit in the eighth inning, too. It was just all Luis Arraez.
The big first inning hurt us a ton. Suarez' home run. If we could have gotten out of there with two runs, you feel like you're in the fight. It was just all Venezuela. They outhit us, they outplayed us, they outpitched us.
Q. What was De Jesus doing tonight that made hitting him so tricky?
BRAD AUSMUS: You know, it seemed like he was a little sneaky. The ball was getting on hitters. He's not overpowering from a velocity, miles per hour standpoint, but it seemed like he was getting some late swings and the ball was getting on guys. And then he really used the changeup very well down in the zone to the right-handed hitters.
Q. Your bullpen kind of settled things down after that first inning, you got within three runs. Did you feel like there was a little momentum, you were getting closer and there was a chance you could pull this off?
BRAD AUSMUS: Well, we kept trying to keep ourselves in the game hoping the offense would score a few runs and tighten it up. The problem with the -- I don't want to say the problem -- but with pitch limitations, pitch constraints, it's tough to start firing your leverage pitchers out of the bullpen when you're chasing.
The guys looked like they were doing a good job, but then Venezuela tacked on. The one real positive takeaway is we swung the bat a little bit better as the game went on. We saw some hits in the last inning. There is something to be said about guys getting comfortable in this atmosphere, getting that first hit out of the way, so hopefully that kind of carries forward.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports164572-1-1046 2026-03-08 03:03:00 GMT
