Maikel Garcia has won a playoff series in his young career with the Kansas City Royals, but the star infielder might have had the biggest moment of his baseball life in Venezuela’s 4-2 win over Italy in the semifinal of the World Baseball Classic. Garcia seems to feel that way, too.
Following Monday’s win, Garcia shared how special the win was for him during his postgame interview with the FS1 crew.
“Big leagues is not like this,” Garcia said. “This is amazing. This is different. I think this is going to help me to play better in the big leagues.”
In a follow-up, Derek Jeter asked Garcia if the environment in Kansas City was anything like what he experienced in Miami’s loanDepot on Monday during his time in Kansas City.
“Not even close,” Garcia replied.
Garcia played a key role in electrifying the Venezuelan crowd on Monday. He went 2 for 4 at the plate, with one of those hits knocking in what would be the game-winning run. Garcia hit a single to left off Italy pitcher Michael Lorenzen in the seventh inning that gave Venezuela a 3-2 lead. That hit was sandwiched between a pair of other base knocks that helped Venezuela rally from a 2-1 deficit.
Maikel Garcia joins Big Papi, A-Rod and Derek Jeter after Venezuela’s win over Italy in WBC Semifinal
Two of the game’s top hitters, Ronald Acuna Jr. and Luis Arraez, were the other two players from Venezuela who contributed to the seventh-inning comeback. But Garcia credited someone who wasn’t in Venezuela’s lineup for helping lift the ballclub toward an appearance in the World Baseball Classic final against Team USA: Royals catcher Salvador Perez.
“Before we got here, he told me about [how] it’s different,” Garcia said of Perez. “We played before in winter ball. This is different than winter ball. It’s loud. There’s a lot of people from different countries. We have to make the plays and play good. He’s a great captain. He’s helped me a lot in the big leagues and he did a great job last night. Thank God we have him here.”
Venezuela will take on the USA in the World Baseball Classic final at 8 p.m. ET on FOX, the FOX Sports app and FOX One.
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