Yadier Molina started out of the batter’s box, whipped his bat against the dirt and glared briefly toward the pitcher’s mound. Joaquin Benoit stood there, his legs still cemented in his follow-through, and watched Molina’s RBI single hop into center field. Three pitches after nearly taking a fastball to the noggin, Molina had pounded perhaps the final nail in Benoit’s coffin.
Entrusted with the seventh inning Thursday, Benoit failed to protect the Pirates’ one-run lead over the St. Louis Cardinals. After Benoit recorded his only out, a long fly ball, Dexter Fowler roped a two-run triple to right field, and Molina dusted himself off after almost being beaned and added insurance.