Cardinals star avoids disaster after being drilled by scary Paul Skenes fastball

Update: The Cardinals announced that Willson Contreras had an X-ray on his left hand and the results came back negative. The Cardinals expect him to be day-to-day.

Willson Contreras can't seem to catch a break! The St. Louis Cardinals first baseman was hit by a pitch once again, and like in 2024, this one may have sidelined him for the foreseeable future.

Paul Skenes delivered a 99 MPH fastball up and in to Contreras in the top of the 4th inning for the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night, and the pitch got away from him just enough to drill Contreras in the wrist, and he was removed from the ballgame when the bottom of the 4th inning came around.

Cardinals' Willson Contreras may be looking at another extended injury absence after taking a Paul Skenes fastball to the wrist

Contreras, who missed significant time twice in 2024 after being drilled on the hand by a pitch from Pablo Lopez and getting his forearm crushed by J.D. Martinez swing a few months prior, was examined by trainers and manager Oliver Marmol after the hit by pitch occured, but did not leave the game until after the half inning ended. Even after all of that bad luck in 2024, things have not gotten better for Contreras this year, as he leads all of baseball in hit by pitches thus far.

We aren't sure why there was a delay in pulling Contreras from the game, but considering he was thrown out at home by outfielder Tommy Pham on a questionable send by third base coach Pop Warner, his injury replacement, Garrett Hampson, may have actually scored that run and makes the decision to wait to pull Contreras confusing.

The bigger story to watch, though, is Contreras' health. While Contreras hasn't excelled at the plate this year, he's still one of their best bats and has rebounded nicely as of late. Going into tonight, Contreras was slashing .249/.339/.422 (116 wRC+) with 11 home runs and 51 RBI for St. Louis. Perhaps most significant of all is Contreras' numbers against left-handed pitching, as his 137 wRC+ is a huge weapon for the Cardinals. Contreras is one of only three Cardinals to have an above-average wRC+ against lefties this year.

Contreras has also done an admirable job of taking over for Paul Goldschmidt defensively this year, and while Alec Burleson can slide in there, it creates far more questions than answers to have Contreras out of their lineup, should the club come back with bad news regarding Contreras' status.

We'll continue to monitor and update this situation as more information is provided by the team. For now, this looks like it could be a major loss for the Cardinals, who are already without their best hitter in Ivan Herrera and one of their few other right-handed bats, Jordan Walker. While the Cardinals were eight games above .500 entering tonight's action, an injury like this, coupled with Herrera's, could zap the Cardinals of their momentum and make it difficult to continue their positive trajectory on the season.