“Yadi! THE PITCHER!”: Yadier Molina scored first strikeout in the Major League Baseball

“Yadi! THE PITCHER!”: Yadier Molina scored first strikeout in the Major League Baseball

Yadier Molina

“Yadi! Yadi! Yadi!” were the chants that went on for the fans as Yadier Molina records his first ever strikeout in a 19-year long career. The fans could only be filled with joy with his achievement as the match was lost 11-3 to the Tampa Bay Rays.

Yadier Molina is in his last season with the Cardinals. The veteran catcher was called in to pitch by manager Oliver Marmol to throw some pitches. In his 19-year career, Molina had never recorded a strikeout. But that wasn’t a record to be kept dusty for a long time, he took Isaac Paredes on three pitches.

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The St. Louis Cardinals player has pitched two times this season. When the previous opportunity was awarded, he went for 2 dingers and 4 runs, but this time Yadi only went for 2 hits out of which the Tampa Bay Rays couldn’t score any.

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Teammates delighted as Yadier Molina picks up his first ever strikeout

Yadier Molina
Yadier Molina

When ‘Yadi’ took Isaac Paredes, Cardinals players were joyfully celebrating his achievement. Yadier Molina too punched the air with excitement as he made the fans celebrate an unexpected scenario. “I wanted to get some outs and try not to let them score this time,” said Molina.

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Albert Pujols was seen to be cheerful and had a wide smile when his fellow veteran took his man for his first strikeout. “It’s a competition now,” Molina bantered of his pitching stat line compared to that of Pujols.

Molina set Paredes up with pitches of 49 and 51 mph, and then he fired a 76-mph changeup past the pinch-hitter. Tampa Bay Rays manager Kevin Cash laughed away the experience, saying, “It’s not every day you get to face a Hall of Fame catcher on the mound.”

As for Paredes, this episode with not be filled with affection, but he certainly will never forget it, as Kevin Cash noted, “No [not a happy memory], and that’s part of it. But it was something to tell your kids one day when you get to face Yadi Molina.”

The Tropicana Field cheered their 39-year-old veteran as he tipped off his cap to the crowd but with this loss, the Cardinals have officially lost the three-game series. But fans will have the memory of Molina making some history.

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