St. Louis Cardinals Catch Break: Yadier Molina's Hand Doesn't Have One

In the ninth inning of a the Cardinals' tidy 6-1 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, the Redbirds got a scare when Yadier Molina took a 96-mph fastball off the back of his catching hand when he crossed signals with pitcher Mitchell Boggs.

Expecting a slider, Molina reached for a breaking pitch that never came when it struck him.

Joe Strauss of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that X-rays were negative and within 30 minutes, Molina had regained most of the movement in his hand, which is tremendous news for Cardinal fans.

Losing Molina for an extended period would have been a huge blow to the early momentum St. Louis has built in going 19-11 to lead the NL Central. 

Backup Tony Cruz came in to work with Boggs for the remainder of the contest. 

Boggs also appeared rattled at the prospect of accidentally injuring his All-Star backstop and walked Jason Kubel, which caused the Cards' closer Jason Motte to stir.  

However, Boggs settled down to strike out Cody Ransom and Lyle Overbay to close out the win, striking out the side in all. Ransom struck out four times on the evening.

Molina headed to the visitors' dugout as Cardinal fans could be heard chanting, "Yadi, Yadi!"

The series concludes on Wednesday night. The Cardinals then have a day off on Thursday before returning home to face the hot Atlanta Braves.