St. Louis Cardinals veteran Yadier Molina has had a 19-year career in which he's been widely regarded as one of the top catchers in the franchise's history.
In what is his final season, Molina is still recording firsts.
During the eighth inning of Wednesday's 11-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays, Molina tallied his first career strikeout. Making it all more impressive, he retired Rays second baseman Isaac Paredes on just three pitches.
Year 19 and Yadi just notched his first strikeout! pic.twitter.com/jWJXJpRtlt
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) June 9, 2022
Molina surrendered a base hit to catcher Francisco Meija to start off the eighth inning. The Cardinals backstop was able to respond by tossing a 49 mph curveball and a 51 mph curveball to start off the at-bat, which Paredes just stared at. Molina then threw a 76-mph four-seam fastball that Paredes couldn't make contact with to wrap up the at-bat.
In a wild twist, Molina was actually the only Cardinals "pitcher" who didn't give up a run against the Rays.
This was actually the second time Molina has taken the mound this season. On May 22, he yielded four runs, including a pair of home runs, in an inning of work against the Pittsburgh Pirates in a 18-4 loss.
Molina's ERA for the season has now decreased from 36.00 to 18.00.
