Pujols hits two home runs, catches two Hall of Famers
Slugger pulls even with Griffey on all-time homers list, Henderson on hits list.
The Angels are still chasing the Seattle Mariners.
Only for one night, that pursuit was set aside long enough for Albert Pujols to catch some history.
With two home runs and three hits total, Pujols passed Rod Carew and pulled even with Rickey Henderson on one all-time list and tied Ken Griffey Jr. on another.
The Angels pounded the Mariners 11-2, though the result was overshadowed by Pujols’ performance and the fact that all of this occurred on Shohei Ohtani bobblehead night, an affair that nearly filled Angel Stadium.
“It’s phenomenal,” winning pitcher Tyler Skaggs said of Pujols, noting that the slugger’s first homer went to the opposite field. “I thought we were going to be in for a special day today.”
Pujols has 3,055 hits, tying him for 25th all-time with Henderson. His 630 homers are tied for sixth with Griffey.
The Angels had no issues against Seattle’s James Paxton, who was benched because of back stiffness after only 17 pitches.
In that short time, though, David Fletcher homered, Mike Trout singled and Pujols homered, and the Angels had the lead for good and more hits in five batters than they had Wednesday in nine innings.
Given a 3-1 edge, Skaggs refused to let a team that was down back up.
He gave up only three singles and didn’t allow another Mariner to reach second base over the next five innings.
Coming off a month in which he produced the lowest June ERA in club history, Skaggs has given up four earned runs and struck out 41 in his last 38 innings.
“This is the best I’ve ever thrown the ball my whole career,” he said. “Looking forward to my next outing.”
By the time this rout was over, Seattle’s pitcher was infielder Andrew Romine, a former Angel. In working through a two-run eighth inning, the utilityman did something no other Mariners pitcher could do Thursday:
He retired Pujols.
Minor promotions
The Angels promoted outfielder Jared Walsh and infielder Luis Rengifo to triple-A Salt Lake. Both started the season at single-A Inland Empire.
Walsh, a 2015 39th-round draft pick from Georgia, has 21 homers in 81 games in 2018.
Rengifo was acquired in spring training from the Tampa Bay Rays for C.J. Cron. He has played mostly shortstop this season.
Short hops
Rookie Jaime Barria was optioned to Inland Empire to make room for Tyler Skaggs. Scioscia said that Barria probably won’t pitch for the 66ers and will rejoin the Angels’ rotation after the AllStar break . ... Outfielder Chris Young (hamstring) continues to recover after receiving a platelet-rich plasma injection.
jeff.miller@latimes.com Twitter: @JeffMillerLAT