Yadier Molina ends hitting streak in 6-1 loss for St. Louis Cardinals

Yadier Molina‘s hitting streak came to an end Saturday afternoon when he was unable to get a hit as the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the St. Louis Cardinals a 6-1 loss. Molina’s hitting streak ended at 15 games and lowered his batting average to .345 for the season.
Apr 26, 2014; St. Louis, MO, USA; St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina (4) walks back to the dugout after striking out with bases loaded against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning at Busch Stadium. Image Credit: Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports
On a day when the Cardinals were honoring their catcher by giving away replica jerseys, he was unable to send the fans home with some added happiness. Twice with runners on base, Molina could not get the job done.

“There’s really no sugarcoating,” third baseman Matt Carpenter said after the game in an MLB.com article. “We’re not clicking on all cylinders. I think we’re having good at-bats, guys are competing, just stuff is not falling in for us. … We just couldn’t get the big hit when we had an opportunity to.”

After walking, Carpenter would go on to score on Matt Holliday‘s fifth inning double.

Allen Craig, Jhonny Peralta, Mark Ellis and Peter Bourjos are not hitting where they should be as they eying the Mendoza line. The Cardinals have scored only 15 runs through their last nine games–winning three and losing six–but none of those runs have come on a home run.

The Cardinals went 2-for-12 on Saturday afternoon with runners in scoring position. Three runners would be left at third base while four others were left at second base.

Tyler Lyons, filling in for the injured Joe Kelly, was pegged for the loss after giving up four runs in the fourth inning. Lyons needed 29 pitches to get through the 8-batter inning.