WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC: POOL A - COLOMBIA VS CANADA

March 7, 2026

Jose Mosquera

Hiram Bithorn Stadium

Team Colombia

Postgame Press Conference

Canada 8, Colombia 2

Q. José, at what point of the day were you aware that Julio could not pitch in this game?

JOSÉ MOSQUERA: Just like five minutes before the game. That was something that we weren't expecting, but that's just baseball. Sometimes we have to deal with situations like this.

Especially coming from him, who is such a competitor, we know that he gives everything in the bullpen to be ready for a game.

So when he just sent a message, hey, I can't throw, we took it really serious because the way that he prepared, he was early on at the field preparing for the matchup and everything. Then we received that notification from him, and that was tough.

We changed the plan right away, and that is the situation.

Q. Was the plan to have Austin Bergner pitch at some point today, or did you just call on him immediately in that moment?

JOSÉ MOSQUERA: He was aware that he would be the piggy-back. So he was some kind of ready when we just called him up. We said, okay, now you're going to start. He just got ready like the inning that we have on offense. That was the situation with Austin.

Q. (No audio).

JOSÉ MOSQUERA: They are playing well. I know they're competitors because there's a bit of I don't want to say under pressure, but there is pressure to respond.

The message is we still have work to do. We can't hang our heads and have keep on competing because you can't just come to this kind of event and simply just stroll in. Nobody thinks like that. We want to compete. We want to play. These are things that happen in baseball, and we simply have to react to this kind of event.

Q. José, do you think that it is anxiety management because in the second inning it seemed it simple error, it seems like a case of nerves on the part of the players?

JOSÉ MOSQUERA: I think Jesus has shown that he's one of the most solid outfielders we have. He is the starting right fielder for the Caimanes in Colombia, playing in a stadium where there is a lot of wind. So I think that maybe he just closed his glove a little bit too soon, and maybe it was a mistake.

Nerves, no doubt, it's just something that we can manage better as a group and take better at-bats and we have players in scoring position. They're things we need to talk about with them and try to talk with them to figure out how they feel comfortable.

Let's play these next two games with a better frame of mind for all of us.

Q. We have to turn the page on this game to Cuba now. Talk to me a little bit about that match-up.

JOSÉ MOSQUERA: As I said before, we still have a responsibility to compete and not simply attend the game to qualify. For us it's so important to continue doing what we started to advance. The mentality is something that we have to change.

As I mentioned, the group is united but a couple of defeats can take away your confidence. We as staff have to come in. We have to place them in the best position to win, but they still have to go and play, and that's what we expect of them in these next few games, to be more proud of what comes up and to know that we do have a very important responsibility ahead of us.