Dream Matchup: Occasional Pitchers Yadier Molina, Brett Phillips Square Off in Magical Moment
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Tampa Bay's Brett Phillips, who really is the happiest man in baseball, couldn't stop smiling.
The Rays outfielder and occasional make-us-laugh late-game pitcher had his dream matchup Wednesday, staring down St. Louis Hall of Famer to-be Yadier Molina, the catcher who's had fun with pitching in blowouts now, too.
Molina, in his 19th and final season for the Cardinals, pitched the bottom of the eighth in the Rays' 11-3 blowout win, and didn't allow a single run in his second pitching performance of the year. Phillips, who's pitched twice this year also and generated several hilarious moments in the process, came up as a pinch-hitter with two outs.
And he couldn't stop laughing.
"When I walked up there, I told Yadi that I was going to make the battle more fair by using a bat that was older than he was,'' Phillips said of Molina, who will turn 40 next month. "My man Q — (Rays bench coach Matt Quatraro) — has a bat that's definitely as old as Yadi, if not more, so I grabbed that when I went up there and hit with that. Q used it back when he played.
"I'll be able to tell my grandkids I hit a ball against a Hall of Famer catcher — and I hit a ball 104 mph with a 40-year-old bat in my hand.''
Molina, who gave up four runs the first time he pitched on May 22 — a few nights after fellow Cardinals legend Albert Pujols pitched an inning, too — allowed two hits against the Rays, but held them scoreless.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher and occasional emergency pitcher Yadier Molina (4) reacts after striking out Tampa Bay Rays shortstop Isaac Paredes (not pictured) during the eighth inning at Tropicana Field. (Dave Nelson-USA TODAY Sports)
He worked quickly and floated up curveballs that barely broke 50 mph on the radar gun. But when he got two strikes on Rays rookie Isaac Paredes, he suprirsed him — stunned him, more like it — with a 75 mph fastball right down the middle that Paredes wasn't expecting, and he swung and missed for Molina's first career strikeout as a big-league pitcher.
Francisco Mejia singled against him and Manuel Margot had a double, but he also got Taylor Walls, who hit a three-run homer on Tuesday night in extra innings for a Rays win, to line out to left for the second out.
Phillips, who's allowed eight runs over three innings in his two appearances at a pitcher this year, grabbled Quatraro's bats and dug him. He hit a fly ball to center field that was caught, ending the inning.
(Quatraro, by the way, would dispute that his bat was that old since his brief minor-league career ended in 2002.)
It was a matchup that Phillips won't ever forget, because he's got enormous respect for Molina and the career that he's had. He is a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer.
"I feel like he gave me his best stuff, too'' Phillips said, who couldn't stop smiling during the at-bat. "He threw me a curveball and he threw me an 85 mph fastball. It was a real at-bat.
''Who knows, maybe I'll be the very last guy to ever bat against him. I'll be the answer to some trivia question.''
Phillips has a 24.00 earned run average this season. With his scoreless inning, Molina's ERA dropped from 36.00 to 18.00, passing Phillips.
"Impressive. Very, very impressive,'' Phillips said with a smile at his locker.'
Tampa Bay outfielder Brett Phillips was the focus of a Sports Illustrated cover story last month.
Rays manager Kevin Cash couldn't help but laugh about it after the game. "It's not every day you get to face a Hall of Fame catcher on the mound," he said.
Ever the competitor, it mattered to Molina, too. “I wanted to get some outs and try not to let them score this time,” Molina said. And the ball from his first strikeout? He kept that one. "That one goes in my house,'' he said.
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