Pujols reaches 700 HRs with 2 vs. Dodgers
Albert Pujols punctuated a magical final season with his 700th career home run Friday night, a shot that made him just the fourth major league player in history to reach the milestone.
The blast against the host Los Angeles Dodgers was one of two Pujols hit on the night. His 699th, a two-run shot off Andrew Heaney, came in the third.
The 700th was a threerun blast on a misplaced breaking ball from Dodgers right-hander Phil Bickford that Pujols sent into the seats in left field at Chavez Ravine.
Pujols, 42, rejoined the team with which he made a name for himself, the St. Louis Cardinals, on a one-year deal this spring. At the time, he had 679 homers. He had surpassed 21 in a season only once since 2018. By the time MLB named him an AllStar to commemorate his stellar career, he had just 683 homers — far enough away that it seemed he would need a stunning revival to make it close. He entered Friday hitting .310 with a 1.022 on-baseplus-slugging percentage since.
Pujols didn’t need 700 homers to be a surefire
Hall of Famer, though he is in the smallest of upper echelons now. Only Barry Bonds, Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth have more home runs to their name than Pujols. Bonds’ numbers are considered tainted by some, his legacy controversial enough to keep him out of the Hall of Fame.
Only nine players have more hits than Pujols. All of them, with the complicated exception of Pete Rose, are in Cooperstown. Only two players, Ruth and Aaron, have driven in more runs. He is the most prolific Dominican hitter in baseball history and the first to cross the 700homer threshold.
Pujols made the All-Star team nine times in his first stint with the Cardinals and just once as a member of the Angels. He hit 40 homers six times as a member of the Cardinals and just once as a member of the Angels. But whatever might have been in St. Louis probably would have taken more out of Pujols than what did happen in
Anaheim. Until this season, Pujols would not have been able to serve as the designated hitter as regularly with a National League team.
SATURDAY’S GAMES AMERICAN LEAGUE
Yankees 7, Red Sox 5: Aaron Judge went homerless for the fourth straight game and remained one shy of Roger Maris’ American League record of 61 as host New York handed Boston its fourth straight loss to close in on its first AL East title since 2019.
Judge was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a walk. Since hitting No. 60 to spark a ninth-inning comeback on Tuesday, Judge is 3 for 13 with two doubles, five walks and six strikeouts.
He made a rare showing of anger on the field in the seventh when first base umpire Chris Conroy ruled he had not checked his swing and had struck out. Judge gestured at the umpire and then waved in disgust while walking back to the dugout.
The Yankees (93-58) have won six straight and 10 of 12, surpassing last
Ayear’s wins total and opening an 8 ⁄ -game division
1
2 lead. They have 11 games remaining, finishing a four-game series Sunday and then heading to Toronto for three games.
Xander Bogaerts went 2 for 4 and took over the AL batting lead with a .315 average to Judge’s .314. Judge leads the major leagues with 128 RBI and is in contention for the first Triple Crown since Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera in 2012.
ELSEWHERE
White Sox: Chicago manager Tony La Russa will not return to the dugout this season. The team says La Russa, who turns 78 on Oct. 4, had “additional testing and medical procedures over the past week.” Doctors have directed the Hall of Famer to stay away from managing for the rest of the season.
Mariners: Seattle locked up another ace for their pitching staff, agreeing to a five-year contract with Luis Castillo. The right-hander was the big trade deadline acquisition for the Mariners when they acquired him from Cincinnati.
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