HOUSTON (KMOX/AP) — Los Angeles Angels catcher Jonathan Lucroy was carted off the field Sunday after a violent collision at the plate and St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina posted a furious caption on Instagram, calling for the league to possibly suspend the player who caused the injury.
Houston's Jake Marisnick trucked the Angels catcher as he was attempting to score on a sacrifice fly in the 8th inning of a game Houston won 11-10 in extra innings. The team said Lucroy was taken to a hospital for a CT scan and is being evaluated for a possible concussion and nose fracture.
Astros'Jake Marsinick collides with Angels Joanthon Lucroy on play at the plate.Astros Manager, Hinch & Angels Manger, Ausmus both former catchers have very different viewpoints.Umps made the right call to call Marsinick out.pic.twitter.com/q6EhyJvUyD
— HighStrikeZone (@strike_high)
July 8, 2019 Marisnick was called out for colliding with Lucroy and the call was upheld after a crew chief review to end the inning.
Late Sunday night, Molina shared an image of the collision on Instagram with a profanity-laced caption to explain is disgust with Marisnick's decision to hit Lucroy (click here to see the unedited caption on Molina's Instagram):
"MLB need to take action on this Bull**** play! F***! Praying for Lucroy! slide slide slide f*** !!!"
Some other Houston players replied to Molina's post, like former AL MVP Jose Altuve who said in spanish, "I understand that the result of the play was not what we wanted but there was no bad intention at any time. Jake is the best teammate that anyone can have and those of us who know him know that it is like that."
Lance McCullers, Alex Bregman, Justin Verlander, Carlos Correa and other Astros joined in the comments to take their teammate's side. Molina responded to each one.
"Tell that to Lucroy family or to Chirino (Astros catcher Robinson Chirinos). I wanna know his opinion. Ask him!" Molina said in the comments on his post.
Jake Marisnick on Lucroy injury: pic.twitter.com/guMaYeKf0W
— Brent Zwerneman (@BrentZwerneman)
July 7, 2019 Angels manager Brad Ausmus agreed with Molina, and also thinks the league should consider suspending the Astros outfielder.
Mike Trout didn't have a great view, but he sprinted in from center field to see if Lucroy was OK.
"I just saw that it was a pretty big collision," he said. "Just a scary situation."
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