In the ninth inning of Tuesday night's win over the Diamondbacks, Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina got crossed up by reliever Mitchell Boggs and wound up taking a 95-mile-per-hour fastball flush on the left hand. While Molina was forced to exit the game, Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports that X-rays revealed a deep bruise and not a break. Manager Mike Matheny says he doesn't think it will be necessary to promote a third catcher to the roster.
"It's something I obviously hated to have happen," Boggs said afterward. "It was pretty much all I thought about the rest of the inning."
Strauss notes that Boggs's heater struck Molina on the same spot of the same hand that he broke back in 2005. That injury caused Molina to miss 35 games.
This season, the three-time All-Star and four-time Gold Glove winner is hitting .302/.353/.528 with four home runs, four steals (!) and 12 doubles. Once his substantial defensive contributions are accounted for, it's clear he's been one of the NL's top performers thus far in 2012.
