Yadier Molina gets caught in a sticky situation

Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina blocks a baseball that gets stuck to his chest protector.

During the 7th inning of Thursday’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and Chicago Cubs, Cardinals’ catcher Yadier Molina had a baseball get stuck to his chest protector.

With no outs in the top of the 7th inning, Cardinals pitcher Brett Cecil struck out pinch-hitter Matt Szczur on a ball in the dirt.  The ball was blocked by the eight-time Gold Glove Winner, but Molina had trouble finding the ball to make the play at first.

Moments later, Molina realized the baseball had stuck to his chest protector.

https://twitter.com/mlb/status/850081762889916417

Sczcur was safe at first and was followed up by a Jon Jay single with the Cubs trailing 4-2.  It was only moments later when Cubs phenom Kyle Schwarber delivered his first home run of the season to give the Cubs a 5-4 lead.

The Cardinals would go on to lose the game 6-4 largely due to the four-run 7th inning that got started with the fluke incident that defied gravity.

The Cubs had struggled mightily at the plate this series. It wasn’t until the 7th inning of game three when the Cubs bats came alive after Molina allowed a runner because of a baseball getting stuck to his chest protector.

Typically, recovering a swinging strike three in the dirt and making the play at first is something the all-time great Molina could do with his eyes closed.

One could argue this sticky instance cost the Cardinals a win.

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I’m not sure what laws of physics were used to determine how this was possible, but it leaves us to wonder if there may have been a substance on Molina’s gear.

This isn’t something you see happen every day, especially to one of the all time great defensive catchers in baseball history.