St. Louis Cardinals’ Yadier Molina back on field after collision with Josh Harrison – MLB News
The St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday, August 30, gave the green light to catcher Yadier Molina to play, two days after his collision on the field with the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Josh Harrison. But before he could make an appearance in the game against the Washington Nationals, Molina had to go through different tests earlier in the day.
"Every time you get hit in the head, there is danger," Molina said. "I'm impressed that nothing worse happened to me. Right now, I [feel] pretty lucky, because it could have been worse."
The tests included concussion exam which was his third since the collision. All the tests made it clear there was no serious injury and that the catcher could go ahead with playing. The decision seems well-considered.
The fact that the Redbirds kept on hold the decision to play him for two days after the collision shows that they wanted to avoid any risk in bringing him earlier. Yadier Molina, after all, retains an important place in the club owing to his solid performance.
The team manager Mike Matheny briefly shed some light on what he actually said to Mike Matheny.
"I gave him my word," Matheny said. "I really didn't want to pass on the struggles that I had and automatically throw them onto him. Just because I have a soft squash doesn't mean that he does. It's just not fair to him. The conversation we had is that if he passes the test and the doctors say he's OK, I'm not going to stop you.”
His coming to the field is positive news for the Cardinals that are currently fighting hard to retain their position in the National League Central. Cardinals will be looknig to make the most of the upcoming games as the regular season nears an end.
The 2011 World Series Champions, Cardinals, were faced with almost the similar situation last year when they had to fight in the Wild Card race. But once they made it into playoffs, they were simply unstoppable.
This year, while every player will have a big role to play, Molina – having proven his credentials, will be needed the most to strengthen the defence.
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