PostCards: Yadier Molina exits NLCS Game 2 with Oblique Strain

St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina left Game 2 of the 2014 NLCS against the San Francisco Giants with a strained left oblique.

Molina’s exit came in the sixth inning when he grounded into a double play and never left the batter’s box. Molina was replaced in the game by Tony Cruz rather than the veteran catcher A.J. Pierzynski.

It is a game-changing injury in the fact that should the Cardinals opt to replace their star catcher on the NLCS roster, he would be deemed ineligible for consideration for the World Series roster should the Cardinals advance to the next round of the postseason.

In the second inning, Molina climbed to first on the franchise leaderboard for career postseason hits. His 89th hit moved him past Albert Pujols.

Matt Carpenter put the Cardinals on the board in the third inning when he hit a solo home run. It was Carpenter’s fourth home run of the 2014 postseason.

In the fourth inning, Matt Adams scored on a bases-loaded hit off the bat of Randal Grichuk. Grichuk’s RBI single was the first run scored for the Cardinals since Game 1 of the NLDS that did not come as a result of a home run.

In the seventh inning, Oscar Taveras tied the game up at 3 runs a piece when he hit a solo home run.