This is a real weird one. Pitching with a 4-2 lead in the seventh inning, St. Louis Cardinals reliever Brett Cecil struck out Cubs pinch hitter Matt Szczur, but Szczur still wound up on first base thanks to a classic case of Baseball Hits Dirt and Attaches Itself to Unwitting Catcher's Chest Protector. Guys advance to first on strikeouts all the time, but usually it's because of a passed ball that gets by the catcher. This ball very definitionally did not get by the catcher. In fact, Yadier Molina did everything correct in blocking the low pitch, but he just failed to account for it sticking to his equipment, so he spun around in vain looking for a ball that was already in his possession as Szczur trotted softly to first.How does this happen? The only logical explanation is that the Cardinals were cheating and got their comeuppance.Speaking of—it got worse for the Cards from there. Cecil walked the next batter, and so there were two men on base for cherubic mashed tater artist Kyle Schwarber. And guess what Schwarbs did. He clubbed the first pitch he saw 404 feet over the fence.The Cubs beat the Cardinals 6-4.pic.twitter.com/2oHBDV6q8q
— MLB (@MLB) April 6, 2017