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| Molina took a brutal hit and still held on, but he paid for it. (US Presswire) |
Cardinals All-Star catcher Yadier Molina has exited Tuesday night's game against the Pirates with an apparent head injury. No more details on his status are available just yet.
Molina took a vicious hit from Pirates second baseman Josh Harrison on a bang-bang play to end the second inning.
It was a Jose Tabata single to right field that spurred the action. Harrison was on second base to start the play, and rounded third trying to score. Cardinals right fielder Carlos Beltran made a great throw to home plate, which was caught by Molina with Harrison lowering himself for the collision. As Molina turned to apply the tag and brace for impact, Harrison's shoulder caught Molina square in the mask, jarring his head backward.
UPDATE: Here's the play:
Unbelievably, Molina held onto the ball and Harrison was ruled out.
After the play, Molina initially had trouble standing up. He walked off the field under his own power, but was flanked by teammates and team personnel. The athletic training staff continued to work with Molina in the dugout before he eventually went down to the clubhouse. Tony Cruz took over behind the plate.
Harrison was hit with a Jake Westbrook pitch in the fifth inning and then both benches were warned by the umpiring crew.
Losing Molina for any amount of time would obviously hurt the Cardinals. The NL MVP candidate is hitting .325/.375/.511 with 17 homers, 62 RBI and 25 doubles, not to mention that he's one of the best defensive players in baseball and a respected Cardinals clubhouse leader.
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