St. Louis Cardinals place All-Star catcher Yadier Molina on IL due to thumb injury

May 31 (UPI) -- The St. Louis Cardinals placed All-Star catcher Yadier Molina on the 10-day injured list due to a strained right thumb tendon, the team announced Friday. The move is retroactive to Wednesday.

The 36-year-old catcher was injured over the weekend in a game against the Atlanta Braves. He tried to play through the injury before sitting out the Cardinals' final two games of a three-game series against the Philadelphia Phillies on Wednesday and Thursday.

"It hasn't been able to heal as we would like," Cardinals manager Mike Shildt told reporters, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. "He was trying to do all that he can the last several days but it's something after the imaging today that didn't look like it was going to heal without some time and some more care."

Cardinals president of baseball operations John Mozeliak received no indication that the thumb injury would require surgery. He expected to have a better idea of Molina's recovery time Saturday, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Matt Wieters, who filled in for Molina during his absence, is expected to receive most of the playing time. The Cardinals selected the contract of Andrew Knizner from Triple-A Memphis in a corresponding move.

Molina has a .265 batting average with four home runs and 33 RBIs this season. He has started 49 of St. Louis' first 53 games. Knizner was batting .286 with five homers and 17 RBIs with Memphis.