ST. LOUIS -- Yadier Molina approached the plate in the sixth inning Sunday hitless in his last 20 at-bats. He shot a sharp grounder up the middle that was mishandled by Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford and allowed Matt Holliday to score. It gave the Cardinals a 4-3 lead and Molina the game-winning RBI in a 6-3 win.
Crawford was credited with an error, but Molina remained persistent. He broke an 0-for-21 streak with a single though the left side of the infield in his next plate appearance. He now has an RBI in consecutive games for the fifth time this season.
"That's a start," Molina said. "I would have loved to get a base hit [in the sixth inning]. I don't know what [the official scorer] was seeing, but that's a good start. We played a good game today and we got some big hits that inning and I'm just happy for that."
That's not to say he's out of the woods. Molina is 7-for-69 since May 14 and only has two hits in his last 39 at-bats. It's clear he's out of rhythm, but he is determined to find ways to contribute to the Cardinals' cause.
Molina is making the most of what he can muster at the plate recently. Two of those seven hits since the middle of May resulted in two RBIs. He has also gotten a hit and scored in the same game four times over that stretch.
"Obviously you want them to fall, you want to get a hit every at-bat, but it's not going to happen," Molina said. "You've got to be strong mentally and that's the way I am right now. I just want to get there for the team."
Though he has struggled, Molina showed early prowess at the plate. During an 11-game hitting streak in April, he hit .400 with seven RBIs and a 1.017 OPS.
Molina knows he has it in him to get back to those kinds of numbers.
"You've seen it," Molina said. "I haven't gotten the hits, but i'm making that hard contact. Obviously I'm a danger every time I step up, that's the way I think about it."