Yadi climbs to 6th all-time in starts as catcher

ST. LOUIS -- Yadier Molina continued to make history on Saturday.

In catching the first pitch of the Cardinals' 4-2 win over the Angels from Dakota Hudson, Molina made his 1,833rd career start at catcher, passing A.J. Pierzynski for sixth all-time in Major League history. And the fourth inning ended, Molina had caught 15,899 innings in his 16-year career, passing Jim Sundberg for ninth all-time in Major League history.

The milestone couldn’t have come at a better time, as the Cardinals welcomed back Albert Pujols to Busch Stadium this weekend. Pujols and Molina played together for eight years -- from when Molina made his debut in 2004 until Pujols departed after the 2011 season -- and Pujols’ return has been emotional for Molina. Molina has given the Busch Stadium crowd time to give Pujols a standing ovation for each of his at-bats this weekend.

Molina ranks first in franchise history in games played at catcher with 1,931, which is also an MLB record for most games at catcher with one organization.