ST. LOUIS -- Chris Coghlan soared headfirst over Yadier Molina to score a run for the slumping Toronto Blue Jays at Busch Stadium on Tuesday night.
The Blue Jays third baseman was on first when Kevin Pillar hit a soaring drive off the right-field wall for what proved to be a triple. Stephen Piscotty collected it and made a strong throw that beat Coghlan easily, but with Molina hunched over securing the ball, Coghlan jumped over him headfirst. He flipped when the Cardinals catcher started to stand up, his right arm and right shoulder hitting the plate before he came down and well before Molina had a chance to tag him.
Coghlan said the rule that prohibits catchers from blocking home plate went into his decision to try to fly over Molina. He happened to be on deck as a member of the Miami Marlins the day San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey had his leg broken when Scott Cousins ran him over at home plate in a 2011 game.
"It's just tough. You've got all these rules. It used to just be if he's in the line, you run him over," Coghlan said. "All that stuff happens, believe it or not, as you're running. Even though it's happening really fast, the last three steps are really slow in your mind. Those are all the thoughts that I had. It's like, 'OK, run him over. Oh wait, I don't know, he's in front of the plate. He's down, maybe I can jump, so let's jump.' Kind of like that."
"I mean I could have run him over because he's right in the middle and there's no place to go. I was there the day Buster got busted up and you don't ever want to see that happen to anyone, but at the end of the day, I've got to score that run."
Blue Jays starter Marco Estrada couldn't believe it.
"When I saw Coghlan do a front flip over Molina, it was like I saw a unicorn or something,'' Estrada said. "It's just something that never happens. You might not ever see that again.''
Blue Jays manager John Gibbons was impressed.
"He got up there didn't he? You've got to win that game because that's what made it worthwhile,'' Gibbons said. "You probably don't see that for 100 years.''
The run proved to be the difference in the game as Toronto won 6-5 in extra innings. At 6-14, the Blue Jays have the worst record in baseball.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.