Molina hurts knee on foul tip as Cardinals lose to Reds
ST. LOUIS » Yadier Molina left the game in the fourth inning with a bruised knee, and the St. Louis Cardinals extended a losing streak to four for the first time this year with a 5-2 defeat to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.
“It’s just not going our way at the moment,” Cardinals manager Mike Shildt said. “It’ll turn. I appreciate the how guys are competing because sometimes you don’t get the end result, but it’s how you go about it. These guys are laying it all out there.”
The 38-year-old Molina, a nine-time AllStar catcher, and nine-time Gold Glove winner, took a foul tip off the bat of Kyle Farmer off his left knee in the fourth inning, Molina initially stayed in the game after he was examined by head athletic trainer Adam Olsen but appeared to be limping.
“It’s a bone contusion on his knee,” Shildt said. “It could have obviously been much worse, but initial findings are day to day.”
Andrew Knizner pinch hit in the bottom half for Molina, who is batting .277 with seven homers and 27 RBIs. Knizner made a run-scoring throwing error in the seventh.
Jonathan India and Eugenio Suárez homered for the Reds to back Tyler Mahle (5-2), who allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings with eight strikeouts.
BLUE JAYS 6, ASTROS 2 » Vladimir Guerrero
Jr. and Joe Panik homered, and Toronto beat Houston.
RAYS 3, RANGERS 0 » Rich Hill pitched another five scoreless innings as Tampa Bay blanked Texas.
INDIANS 10, ORIOLES 4 » Cesar Hernandez and Harold Ramirez homered off Baltimore ace John Means, who exited in the first inning with shoulder fatigue, as Cleveland beat the Orioles.
Means (4-2) surrendered a leadoff homer to Hernandez and a solo drive to Ramirez with two outs. After Eddie Rosario followed with a single, Means exited the game.
PIRATES 8, MARLINS 7 » Jacob Stallings hit a game-ending single in the 12th inning that lifted Pittsburgh over Miami and extended the Marlins’ longest losing streak in six years to eight games.
TIGERS 4, WHITE SOX 3 » Tarik Skubal struck out a career-high 11 to win consecutive starts for the first time, Eric Haase homered twice and Detroit beat Chicago.
TWINS 5, ROYALS 4 » Ryan Jeffers, Kyle Garlick and Miguel Sanó homered, and Minnesota turned a game-ending double play with the potential tying run at third base to beat Kansas and stop a four-game losing streak.
BREWERS 7, DIAMONDBACKS 5 » Christian Yelich and Omar Narváez hit back-to-back homers in the eighth inning and Milwaukee dealt Arizona its team-record 16th straight road loss.