Albert Pujols belted a pair of house runs on Friday night time towards the Los Angeles Dodgers, shifting the St. Louis Cardinals slugger into probably the most elite golf equipment in all {of professional} sports activities.
The 700 house run membership.
Pujols’ first house run got here within the third inning off of Dodgers beginning pitcher Andrew Heaney, and it was a no-doubter off the bat:
Pujols was capable of activate a 94-mile per hour fastball that Heaney left on the within a part of the plate, driving it 434 ft to deep left for the two-run shot. It touched off a frenzy in left subject, with followers clamoring for a bit of baseball historical past.
Then within the fourth inning, Pujols got here to the plate with a pair of runners on base. He pulled one other pitch into deep left subject, touching off a celebration as he joined the elite membership:
Pujols is now the fourth member of one among sports activities’ most-elite golf equipment, the 700 house run membership. Solely Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Barry Bonds have amassed extra house runs over the course of a profession. Pujols presently ranks fourth all-time in house runs behind Bonds (762), Aaron (755) and Ruth (714).
Provided that Pujols is retiring on the finish of this season, it’s unlikely he’ll catch Ruth with ten video games left within the common season. However the first house run was his twentieth on the season, putting him in one other small membership, as he joins Ted Williams as solely the second participant in baseball historical past to hit 20 house runs in each his first, and his final, season:
Along with becoming a member of the 700 house run membership, Pujols joins Aaron as the one two gamers in MLB historical past to amass 700 house runs, together with 3,000 hits, over the course of a profession.
