One bizarre plays leads to a Cardinals loss

There were more questions than answers Thursday after the St. Louis Cardinals lost 6-4 to the Chicago Cubs.

No one, including eight-time Gold Glove catcher Yadier Molina, could explain how Brett Cecil’s strikeout pitch to pinch-hitter Matt Szczur ended up stuck on the lower part of Molina’s chest protector to start the seventh.

Molina looked all around him after Szczur swung and missed at an 0-2 delivery in the dirt. He couldn’t find the ball because it had attached itself to his chest protector.

“I’ve never seen that,” Molina said. “It’s the first time (that’s happened) in how many years, 13 years? I don’t know how that happened.”

Molina dismissed as “dumb” a question about whether a sticky substance could have been on his chest protector.

In the end, Szczur reached first, Jon Jay walked on a 3-2 pitch and Kyle Schwarber rocketed Cecil’s first delivery into the seats in deep right to put the Cubs ahead 5-4.

Chicago added another run in the inning, then turned the game over to its bullpen as it grabbed two out of three in the season-opening series.

Cardinals manager Mike Matheny, himself a former catcher who won four Gold Gloves, also had no explanation for a ball taking residence on a chest protector.

“I don’t know what happened. I have no idea. I’ve never seen it,” said Matheny, whose team led 4-1 after five innings.

Szczur said it was one of the strangest plays he has ever witnessed.

“Crazy. Weird,” Szczur said. “I saw it stuck on (Molina’s) stomach and he didn’t even know it until the end.”

This story was originally published April 6, 2017 at 7:08 PM with the headline "One bizarre plays leads to a Cardinals loss."