In what may even be a becoming capstone to a hall of Fame profession, Albert Pujols on Friday related for his 700th residence run as a vital leaguer, a feat accomplished by solely three completely different sluggers in baseball historic previous.
The milestone homer – Pujols’ second of the night – bought here inside the fourth inning off Dodgers proper-hander Phil Bickford, the latest of a file 455 completely different pitchers who’ve given up at the least one spherical-tripper to Pujols over his 22 MLB seasons.
Pujols joins Barry Bonds (762), Henry Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) inside the seven-hundred-HR membership, simply 12 days after passing Alex Rodriguez (696) for fourth-place on the all-time residence run record.
The Dodger Stadium crowd of fifty,041 gave him a standing ovation when he bought here again out of the dugout to acknowledge the cheers for his historic blast. Chants of “Al-bert, Al-bert” bought here from followers behind the Cardinals’ dugout.
“It’s pretty particular,” Pujols said of reaching the milestone. “When it’s actually going to hit me (is) after I’m finished, on the extreme of the season and that i’m retired. in all probability a month or two after that take a look on the numbers. you already know, don’t get me flawed. i do know the place my place stands on this sport. ”
For him, Pujols said, having fun with baseball was by no means about “chasing numbers.” nonetheless the numbers stored piling up.
The historic homer comes on the tail finish of a late-profession renaissance for Pujols, who returned to the St. Louis Cardinals this season at age forty two – after leaving as a free agent a decade earlier.
IN-DEPTH GRAPHIC: a look again at Albert Pujols’ historic profession
It was in St. Louis the place Pujols initially rose from barely-acknowledged thirteenth-spherical draft decide to superstardom that included three nationwide League MVP awards and a pair of World sequence titles in his first eleven seasons.
After signing a ten-yr, $254 million free agent contract with the l. a. Angels, Pujols hit 222 residence runs over the subsequent 10 seasons — plus 12 extra in late 2021 after he was launched by the Angels and signed by the l. a. Dodgers.
however again inside the acquainted confines of Busch Stadium and in a Cardinal uniform, Pujols has seemingly found the fountain of youth this yr, posting his highest slugging share and OPS since he left St. Louis in 2011.
Pujols homered earlier in Friday’s sport off Dodgers starter Andrew Heaney, a two-run shot to left area that put the Cardinals up 2-zero inside the very greater of the third inning. the residence runs give Pujols 21 on the season.
The Dodgers went on to an eleven-zero win. Pujols accomplished his historic night 2-for-4, the two residence runs producing 5 RBI.
earlier than the sport, after a tribute video for Pujols was performed on the two scoreboards inside the outfield at Dodger Stadium, followers gave Pujols a standing ovation. Given an alternative to deal with the gang earlier than the sport started, Pujols said: “properly, I simply want to take this alternative to thank all of you Dodgers followers.’’
After the sport, Pujols sat in entrance of his six youngsters inside the Dodgers’ interview room, a courtesy of the workforce he performed for final season when he regained his pleasure for the sport.
“What a particular night,” he said. “to start with, to have my household right here on the metropolis, and to have the flexibility to do it right here at Dodger Stadium.”
Contributing: Josh Peter in la
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