Waino on Yadi's milestone: 'He's unflappable'

ST. LOUIS -- As Yadier Molina talked with the crew at FOX Sports Midwest on Thursday night about his 2,000th hit, teammate Adam Wainwright came over to congratulate Molina on the achievement -- and to commemorate the moment by dumping four cold water bottles on the Cardinals catcher.

With the field and stands empty, it was a pure moment between the two friends and teammates who have defined the past decade of Cardinals baseball. Wainwright was beyond happy for Molina, who laced a single in the seventh inning of Thursday’s 4-2 win over the Brewers for the milestone hit. When the ball fell in center field, Wainwright’s arms shot up, and even though he was wearing a mask, you could tell he was cheering loud.

“Most guys, when they have a huge milestone like that, they’ll come up on it and they’ll go like 0-for-8 or whatever, strike out a bunch of times, get nervous trying to get that hit,” Wainwright said Friday. “[Molina] came into the game two short and I go, ‘He’s going to get it today.’ He loves dramatics. … It wasn’t a surprise that he got the hit that he did, it wasn’t a surprise that he came through like he did and got two hits yesterday. The guy is unflappable. He doesn’t get nervous, doesn’t crack -- it’s just impressive.”

Wainwright was happy Molina got the hit while wearing a Cardinals uniform. Both are in the final year of their contracts with St. Louis, and where they’ll be next year is unknown. Molina has said he would like to play two more years, at least. Wainwright wouldn’t be surprised if it was more than that.

“Last year, we were in the video room, and I was sitting by Jedd Gyorko, and it was showing the previous game’s highlights. And [Molina] got hit in the head, hit in the shoulder, hit in the knee, hit in the foot,” Wainwright said. “I said, ‘My goodness, what is this guy’s body going to feel like when he turns 63?’

“And [Gyorko] goes, ‘I don’t know, he’s probably going to have three hits, throw a couple of runners out.’ There’s just no telling. He might play until he’s 100. I have no idea.”

The unknown of next year makes this year even more special for Wainwright -- who is scheduled to make his final regular-season start Saturday against the Brewers -- and Molina, longtime batterymates and close friends.

“You never know what that situation’s going to play out like,” Wainwright said of each becoming a free agent. “I’m really glad he got [the 2,000th hit] here. My only wish is that Yadier could have gotten that hit with a full crowd, with 50,000 Cardinals fans going crazy. That would have made it more special, just the reaction would have been huge. Everyone loves and appreciates Yadi so much. But I’m just glad he got it as a Cardinal. I hope he never plays for another team, ever -- he probably won’t, but you never know.”

Gant placed on IL
Reliever John Gant exited the Cardinals' 3-0 loss to the Brewers in Game 1 of Friday's doubleheader with the same right groin issue that he’s dealt with several times this season, though it had never caused him to miss any significant time.

That won't be the case this time around. St. Louis placed Gant on the 10-day injured list with right groin tightness prior to the nightcap at Busch Stadium, calling up right-hander Nabil Crismatt to take Gant's place on the active roster. The move likely signaled the end of Gant’s season, unless the Cards make a deep run in the playoffs.

Gant allowed four earned runs in 15 innings this season, appearing mostly in high-leverage situations. Before his outing this past Sunday against the Pirates, he had not been used in a week while recovering from groin soreness. He pitched a scoreless inning against the Pirates but was still sore, manager Mike Shildt revealed after Friday’s doubleheader, and the Cardinals tried to stay away from him while in Kansas City earlier this week.

“Then it got to a point where we couldn’t dodge him anymore,” Shildt said. “He said [Thursday] and [Friday] he could go. We were toying with the IL in Kansas City with him, but we were going day to day. We figured out a way to stay away from him. But he said he could go, we gave it a shot and [he] got in there and didn’t look as good as we would have hoped and he would have liked, so we made the move.”

Worth noting
• Citing his “day-by-day” mindset, manager Mike Shildt would not say if Kwang Hyun Kim is being considered to start a game on short rest on Monday if the Cardinals play a doubleheader at Detroit. Kim threw 99 pitches in Thursday’s win, so that could make it difficult -- and it would likely take him out of the rotation for the best-of-three Wild Card Series. Another candidate for Monday could be Johan Oviedo if he isn’t used out of the bullpen this weekend.

• The Cards have not made an announcement yet about Dakota Hudson’s long-term prognosis or what his treatment would be for the right forearm strain that he sustained last week. He is still seeking a second opinion after meeting with Dr. George Paletta, the club’s head physician.