Pujols belts No. 697, rallies Cardinals past Pirates

PITTSBURGH — 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 rallied the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-3 Sunday.

The NL Central-leading Cardinals trailed 2-1 when Pujols connected for a two-run drive. Pujols had tied Rodriguez with a home run Saturday night.

Pujols trails Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth ( 714) on the all- time home run 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.”

In his chase for 700 home runs, the 42-year-old Pujols has 21 games left in his 22nd and final season in the big leagues. He’s hit 18 home runs this year.

“This opportunity only comes once and it’s something that’s a gift God has given me and I try to take advantage of it every single day,” Pujols said. “I’m not only making memories for me but for the fans, my family and people who love me.”

“At the end of the day, it’s pretty awesome and we’re playing great baseball and have a great group of teammates,” he said.

BREWERS 7, REDS 6 Rowdy Tellez homered twice, doubled and drove in four runs as Milwaukee withstood a ninth-inning comeback by Cincinnati. DIAMONDBACKS 12, ROCKIES 6 Zac

Sunday’s games NATIONAL LEAGUE

St. Louis 4, Pittsburgh 3 Philadelphia 7, Washington 5 NY Mets 9, Miami 3 Milwaukee 7, Cincinnati 6 Arizona 12, Colorado 6 LA Dodgers 11, San Diego 2 San Francisco 4, Chicago Cubs 2

AMERICAN LEAGUE

Boston 1, Baltimore 0 Kansas City 4, Detroit 0 NY Yankees 10, Tampa Bay 4 Cleveland 4, Minnesota 1 Houston 12, LA Angels 4 Texas 4, Toronto 1 Oakland 10, Chicago White Sox 3

INTERLEAGUE

Seattle 8, Atlanta 7

Gallen (12-2) retired the first nine batters he faced to extend his scoreless innings streak to 44 1/3 innings, seventh longest in MLB history, and Arizona beat Colorado. DODGERS 11, PADRES 2 Justin Turner hit

a grand slam and a solo home run for Los Angeles, which emphatically became the first team to clinch a playoff spot this season by beating rival San Diego.

GIANTS 4, CUBS 2 Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada each homered and drove in two runs as San Francisco defeated Chicago.

METS 9, MARLINS 3 Brandon Nimmo homered, doubled and walked twice to help New York top Miami and maintain its slim lead atop the NL East. PHILLIES 7, NATIONALS 5 Alec Bohm hit the go-ahead, two-run home run in the seventh inning to lead Philadelphia over Washington. The game had a 3.5-hour rain delay.

AMERICAN LEAGUE

ASTROS 12, ANGELS 4 Alex Bregman and Trey Mancini hit two of Houston’s five home runs, and the AL West-leading Astros beat Los Angeles for their 90th win of the season.

ATHLETICS 10, WHITE SOX 3 Ramon Laureano hit a two-run home run and Vimael Machin hit a two-run double in the decisive fifth inning to back Cole Irvin’s (8-11) second consecutive win, and Oakland beat Chicago to snap a five-game losing streak.

GUARDIANS 4, TWINS 1 Andres Gimenez and Steven Kwan hit home runs, Shane Bieber (10-8) had another strong start and Cleveland finished off a sweep of Minnesota. RANGERS 4, BLUE JAYS 1 Martin Perez (11-6) allowed one run in six innings, Adolis Garcia homered for the second consecutive game and Texas beat Toronto. RED SOX 1, ORIOLES 0 Rich Hill (7-6) pitched five scoreless innings, and Boston defeated a fading Baltimore team.

ROYALS 4, TIGERS 0 Brady Singer (8-4) threw seven shutout innings to lead Kansas City over Detroit and salvage the finale of the threegame series.

YANKEES 10, RAYS 4 Gleyber Torres homered twice and Giancarlo Stanton and Oswaldo Cabrera once each during a 10-run barrage in the first two innings and New York again routed Tampa Bay to reopen a 5 1/2-game AL East lead.

INTERLEAGUE

MARINERS 8, BRAVES 7 Julio Rodriguez and Eugenio Suarez each hit their second home run of the game, connecting in the ninth inning and rallying Seattle over Atlanta.