Aaron Nola's Comments on Helping Team USA and Feeling Strong

Phillies right-hander Aaron Nola and Royals first baseman Vinnie Pasquantino were the stars of the show Wednesday night as Team Italy punched its ticket to the World Baseball Classic quarterfinals with a 9-1 win over Mexico.

Nola threw 69 pitches over five scoreless innings, scattering five baserunners and allowing only one to reach second base. This wasn't an average lineup, either. Mexico's top four were Jarren Duran, Randy Arozarena, Jonathan Aranda and Alejandro Kirk, all above-average big-league hitters. There was power, speed and peskiness up and down the batting order.

But Nola was sharp, with a fastball that maxed out at 94.5 mph and good feel for his curveball. His performance also helped Team USA advance to the quarterfinals. The Americans would have been eliminated if Mexico beat Italy by scoring four runs or fewer, based on WBC tiebreaker rules.

Nola was asked about that, among other things, postgame. Here's what he had to say:

The experience of the night

"The environment was really cool. It's a playoff atmosphere," Nola said. "I've been over here during the playoffs and it's pretty awesome.

"I feel like nobody felt like we were going to make it out of pool play besides us. And, I mean, what a great couple wins these past two days. Very fortunate to be on this group and representing Italy. A good Mexico team over there. I face those guys quite a bit over my career, and they're a scrappy, good team.

"But we played really good tonight, and we did the little things right. And that's why we took the win."

Helping Team USA

Nola was asked if he heard from Phillies teammates Bryce Harper, Kyle Schwarber or anyone else with Team USA, which faced elimination if Italy lost.

"No, I didn't. I didn't hear from them," Nola said. "I don't think anybody in the clubhouse was worried about USA getting in or not getting in. We were just focusing on the game. We're not going to go out there and try to score a certain amount of runs or do this and that just because of another team.

"It's a big-league baseball game. We're going to go out and try to win it however we can. We're going to go out and try to win a baseball game, and that's what we did tonight."

What worked for Nola against Mexico?

"I got ahead pretty well. The fastball had a little jump to it early on," he said. "And I felt the command was there, so it set up my curveball. My curveball felt pretty sharp. Got some guys out in front and swinging over it.

"Guys made some good plays, a couple double plays there, which was awesome. It helped out a lot. I feel like I found the zone pretty well."

How does his arm feel?

"I feel good. I feel really good," Nola said. "I think the atmosphere and the stakes of the game made it a little bit easier to go out there and throw five innings, 60-something pitches.

"It's obviously a little bit different than a spring training start. A little bit more fun, I feel like. But overall, the body feels good. My arm feels really good."

What enabled underdog Team Italy to go 4-0 in pool play?

"Everybody's bought in," Nola said. "These games matter a lot. We take it one game at a time. Win one game each day, and that's kind of the mindset in that clubhouse. And everybody has a lot of energy going into each game, and I think that helps a lot."

His experience with Pasquantino, the team captain

"I've never met him before. Just played against him a few times. But he's great. Just kind of everything I thought he would be, just from playing against him. And just hearing guys from around the league talk about him, how good of a leader he is, teammate.

"He brings a lot of energy every day. Good baseball player. What a game he had today with the three homers, you don't see that too much, especially on a game like that that we just played.

"But he runs a clubhouse, and he gets everybody up and going every day."

Waiting until Game 4 of pool play for his start

"It was about seven days since the last time I pitched. So I was honestly glad to just kind of watch the first few days, practice with the guys for two days and then watch the first three games, you know, especially the USA game last night. And obviously Mike (Lorenzen), that I played with, pitching really well. Our starters set the tone all four games, I feel like."

Doing it for Italy

"Wearing 'Italy' is definitely an honor. I'm honored that they asked me to play in this. And I just had a ton of family here tonight. So on my dad's side the family's Italian.

"It means a lot. It really does. And I'm glad to represent Italy with the best character as I can, and the best I can."