JUPITER, Fla. _ In the hours after Puerto Rico's win late Saturday night in Mexico, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina took to social media to express his anger about the security given his and other players' families in the stands.
During Puerto Rico's 9-4 victory against Mexico in the World Baseball Classic, a fight appeared to break out in the stands. It was near the family section, reporters at the scene described, and it momentarily brought players from the Puerto Rico dugout onto the field to watch. Molina was one of the players who was irate after the game about the situation his family was in.
He elaborated, publicly, on Instagram. He wrote:
"MLB,,, its a shame that you are more interested in making money and not in the security of our family. its a shame that the players have to be worried about the safety of our family when you were supposed to have security for them,, Horrible organization for this event , no security for the players family"
Molina posted the same message twice on Instagram, and each time he included Major League Baseball's official logo.
Several thousand followers saw each post.
Officials spoke with Molina privately after the game about his concerns. World Baseball Classic Inc., the joint venture between MLB and the players' union, said it was looking into the events.
"During last night's game, an incident occurred at Estadio de Beisbol Charros de Jalisco between a fan and family members of Team Puerto Rico," an official in Mexico wrote in an email to the Post-Dispatch. "Security staff responded quickly and relocated the families to a new area. Stadium security is always our main priority and we will make every effort to prevent another such situation."
The World Baseball Classic has its pool play this year in Miami _ where Team USA and the Dominican Republic played before the largest crowd ever at Marlins Park on Saturday night _ and other international sites, including Korea, Japan, and Mexico. Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Italy, and host Mexico are in pool play in Guadalajara, Mexico. The two teams with the best record in the pool will advance to the second round of play in San Diego.
Puerto Rico is 2-0 in pool play, and Molina has started both of the games at catcher. He hit a home run in the first game, and he also became one of the few players to have appeared in all four World Baseball Classic tournaments.
