The St. Louis Cardinals seemed to be in a moderately comfortable spot in their season-opening series against the Chicago Cubs. On a sunny Thursday afternoon at Busch Stadium, the Cardinals held a two-run lead in the top of the seventh inning until something funny happened.
Yadier Molina got a baseball stuck on his chest protector. Things spiraled out of control from there.
Molina has collected a fair of Gold Gloves for his efforts behind the plate throughout his career, but he likely never blocked a baseball like this before. A pitch in the dirt was successfully blocked by the All-Star franchise catcher when the ball became stuck to his chest protector. It was like the ball and his equipment were made of Velcro. It seemed to catch Molina off guard at first, and wouldn’t it? This was certainly a bizarre moment.
are you kidding me pic.twitter.com/Xsvl1NtngH
— VHS (@VanHicklestein) April 6, 2017
We have seen baseballs get caught in gloves and even inside uniforms before, but a chest protector? That’s a new one.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, this was a bad omen of things to come. As the inning continued, Kyle Schwarber turned the game around in favor of the defending World Series champions with a towering three-run home run down the right-field line. The shot turned a two-run deficit into a one-run lead.
The Cubs went on to add another run in the inning to take a 6-4 lead.
