St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina returned to action over the weekend as the team suffered two frustrating losses to the Atlanta Braves, going 2-9 as the Cardinals lost 9-7 and 7-2. With the Cardinals and the Braves closing the series out Sunday afternoon Molina is likely to sit in favor of Tony Cruz, who went 1-4 with a run scored in the only game Molina ended up missing following a scary-looking shot to the left hand courtesy a Mitchell Boggs fastball.
The injury ended up being a bruise, and not a break, which was great news for a Cardinals team that's taken advantage of what could be a career year for Molina in the first season of his enormous new contract. Molina's hitting .296/.344/.504 on the season, continuing a power surge that began, for the formerly punchless catcher, in the middle of 2011. He's presently on pace for 59 doubles and 20 home runs, which looked like reasonable bets for his career totals back when he was struggling to slug over .300 in 2006.
More Cardinals coverage from SB Nation St. Louis:
- On the latest episode of Legopiece Theater: Dugout Abbey, we learned about the mysterious St. Louis Sign Guy.
- With Chris Carpenter on his way back and Lance Lynn still pitching well, the Cardinals have a rare rotational surplus to deal with.