St. Louis Cardinals veteran first baseman Albert Pujols hit his 697th home run on Sunday, surpassing New York Yankees legend Alex Rodriguez for fourth place all-time on the MLB home run list with a ninth-inning blast that lifted St. Louis to a 4-3 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates.
The Cardinals, who lead the NL Central, were trailing 2-1 when Pujols hit a two-run home run. He drove a 2-0 fastball from Chase De Jong to straightaway center field, giving St. Louis its first lead of the game.
Pujols is now three home runs away from becoming the fourth member of the exclusive 700-home run club. Only three other MLB legends have more home runs than Pujols. Former San Francisco Giants outfielder Barry Bonds has 762 home runs, former Milwaukee Braves outfielder Hank Aaron, who died last year, has 755 home runs, and Babe Ruth, who played 22 seasons in MLB, has 714 home runs.
697! @PujolsFive just passed Alex Rodriguez for 4th on the all-time HR list. 🐐 pic.twitter.com/2T7YCN50Sm
— MLB (@MLB) September 11, 2022
“There’s impressive, and then there’s unbelievable,” Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said. “And what we’re witnessing right now is absolutely legendary.”
Cardinals pitcher José Quintana, who pitched one-run ball over 5 1/3 innings, was also mesmerized by his performance, saying, “When you keep focusing on the game, really good things happen.
“Finally, at the end of the game, we get that support and see [Albert] doing amazing things, hitting the ball to center field.”
“It was an unbelievable moment,” Quintana said. Sunday’s game was Quintana’s first appearance against the Pirates since being traded to St. Louis on August 1.
Pujols’ career
The Dominicans are currently having a fantastic season. He hit.266/.339/.520 in 89 games, with 17 home runs and 46 RBI. It is a significant improvement for him, who had a difficult season in 2021. The veteran appeared to be a shell of his previous self early in the season, with only two home runs in April and May and none in June.
He came alive in July, hitting three home runs and terrorizing pitchers with eight home runs. He has three home runs in nine games this month. This season, Pujols’ ability to consistently obliterate left-handed pitching has been critical to his success, hitting 12 of his 18 home runs against lefties.
Pujols entered Sunday with a 1.180 OPS against left-handed pitching, trailing only teammate and right-handed first baseman Paul Goldschmidt (1.379) among hitters with at least 70 career games against lefties.
Pujols joined the Cardinals from 2001 to 2011, not only winning three MVP awards and two World Series championships, but also nine All-Star Games, six Silver Sluggers, two Gold Gloves, and one batting title. In his first 1,705 games with the team, he hit.328/.421/.617 with 445 home runs and 1,329 RBI.
Pujols signed a 10-year, $254 million contract with Los Angeles Angels prior to the 2012 season. He appeared in 1,181 games for the Angels from 2012 to 21, slashing.256/.311/.447 with 222 home runs and 783 RBI.
The Angels designated Pujols for assignment in May 2021 after he hit.198/250/.372 with five home runs and 12 RBI in 24 games.
The Los Angeles Dodgers signed him to a one-year contract after he cleared waivers. Pujols hit.254/.299/.460 with 12 home runs and 38 RBI in 85 games with the Dodgers.
In March 2022, Pujols and the Cardinals agreed to a one-year contract extension. During spring training, the 42-year-old said unequivocally that he will leave the league at the end of the season, regardless of how many home runs he hits.