The Rundown: Cardinals Win Game 2, lose Molina. Red Sox Seek Shark?

The St. Louis Cardinals finished the regular season with the fewest home runs in the National League.

After Sunday’s Game 2 win over the Giants, they have 11 post-season homers. So many of them have come at huge moments late in games.

However, as good as St. Louis is looking at this point, they could be in trouble. Yadier Molina exited Sunday’s game in the seventh inning with an oblique injury. He’s such a huge part of their team, and it’s uncertain how much time Molina will miss. It’s possible he misses the rest of the playoffs. I’m betting he’ll be back at some point, though.

Just when things were looking dire for the Cardinals because of the Molina injury, rookie Oscar Taveras hit a seventh-inning home run down the line to tie the score at 3.

Matt Adams followed that up by ripping a solo shot on a 97-mph pitch in the eighth.

The Giants didn’t give up, though, and were able to get to Cardinals closer Trevor Rosenthal and tie the game 4-4. With two outs, Rosenthal spiked a fastball short of the plate, resulting in a wild pitch and pinch-runner Matt Duffy scoring from second base.

It was a bizarre play, but Yadi Molina probably has a good chance of blocking the wild pitch. Luckily for the Cardinals, they escaped the ninth with a tie score.

And then guess what happened? Yep, another small St. Louis Cardinals player hit a home run. Kolten Wong hit the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth to even up the series.

Despite the annoyance of having the Cardinals win, I’ll admit it was a great game.

Will St. Louis be able to overcome the injury to Molina and get three more wins in this series? I think it will be tough, but then again, this is the Cardinals we’re talking about.

Other notes

* The Red Sox may be interested in trading for Jeff Samardzija, according to Nick Cafardo. A’s General Manager Billy Bean also could wait until next year’s trade deadline to deal Shark.

Cafardo said the Red Sox inquired about acquiring Samardzija from the Cubs before this year’s trade deadline, but the Cubs were requesting a package centered around pitching prospect Henry Owens. Boston was not willing to part with the left-hander.

I wonder what happens if the A’s don’t trade Samardzija this winter and then get off to a good start next season. Would they consider trading him if they are leading the division, for example? He almost certainly won’t be re-signed once he hits free agency after next season, so it presents a predicament for Oakland.