AROUND THE HORN

Cardinals:

Albert Pujols hit his 697th home run, moving past Alex Rodriguez into fourth place on the career list and doing it in dramatic fashion with a ninth-inning drive that pushed the Cardinals over the Pirates 4-3 on Sunday in Pittsburgh. The NL Centralleading Cardinals trailed 2-1 when Pujols connected for a two-run shot. He trails Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) on the all-time homer chart. “There’s impressive and then there’s unbelievable,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “What we’re witnessing right now is legendary. You have to take a step back from managing the game and take it all in. It’s amazing.” The 42-yearold Pujols has 21 games left in his 22nd and final season in the big leagues. The Cardinals went to the ninth trailing 2-0 but scored four runs off Chase DeJong (4-2). Tommy Edman and Corey Dickerson led off with backto-back doubles to produce the first run. One out after Pujols connected, Tyler O’Neil hit a solo shot to cap the Cards’ big inning. Ryan Helsley then got Ben Gamel to fly out for his 16th save.

White Sox: Hall of Fame manager Tony La Russa said he’s recovering well from having a pacemaker inserted for his heart, and is uncertain when he will be medically cleared to run the club again. La Russa was back with the White Sox in Oakland on Sunday to celebrate Dave Stewart having his No. 34 jersey retired by the A’s. La Russa was there for the ceremony, but not to manage his team. La Russa, who turns 78 on Oct. 4, shared specifics of the procedure with The AP after discussing his absence before the White Sox’s series finale against the A’s. He’s grateful to have had what he considered a relatively “simple” heart issue. La Russa didn’t want to miss the special day for Stewart, his longtime ace with the A’s. La Russa is uncertain when he will be in uniform again and back in the dugout. Bench coach Miguel Cairo has been leading the club during La Russa’s nearly two-week absence. He was set to manage the reigning AL Central champions Aug. 30 before being pulled away by the medical staff.

Guardians: Andrés Giménez and Steven Kwan hit solo HRs, Shane Bieber had another strong start and the visiting Guardians capped a sweep of the Twins with a 4-1 victory. Bieber (10-8) went 6 innings, allowing five hits and one run while striking out seven. He has allowed more than two runs just once in his last nine starts. The Guardians had lost nine of their previous 13 games but still held a 1 game lead over Twins in the AL Central entering the series. The Twins now are in third place, 4 games back.

Astros: Alex Bregman and Trey Mancini hit two of their team’s five HRs, and the AL West-leading Astros topped the Angels 12-4 for their 90th win of the season. Trailing 3-0, the hosts rallied for five runs in the third. Mauricio Dubón led off the inning with a solo HR, and after Tucker Davidson (2-6) hit Yordan Alvarez to load the bases, Davidson was replaced by Mike Mayers, who Bregman greeted with his grand slam to right-center. Shohei Ohtani hit his 34th HR in the first, a two-run shot to right. Mike Trout, who has homered in a club record six straight games, was given the day off.

Diamondbacks: Zac Gallen retired the first nine batters he faced to extend his scoreless innings streak to 44 innings, seventh longest in MLB history, and the visiting Diamondbacks beat the Rockies 12-6. Gallen (12-2) struck out 11 in six innings to win for the seventh time in his last eight starts. He passed Brandon Webb with a scoreless first to set the franchise record at 42 innings. An RBI single by C.J. Cron in the fourth ended Gallen’s streak.