Albert Pujols enters the exclusive 700 home run batters circle

As quickly as Albert Pujols’ 699th homer came, he produced the 700th to become just the fourth player in Major League history to hit 700 home runs.

Pujols had hit his 699th homer in the second inning and just one inning later he hit his record-setting history that unites him with Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).

His three-run shot came in the fourth inning off Phil Bickford.

Joining that elite group, Pujols and Aaron are the only two with at least 3,000 hits and 700 home runs. Pujols reaches 700 like Aaron without a 50-homer season.

Friday’s home run was Pujols’ 20th of the season. The veteran slugger joins Aaron (20) and Bonds (19) as the only players with at least 18 seasons of 20 or more home runs.

Pujols’ third-inning home run also extended his American League and National League record to 454 pitching home runs during his career. He entered the season second to Bonds (449), but surpassed him on Aug. 29 at Cincinnati and has gone on to extend the record with a post-All-Star flurry of home runs.

Pujols hit home run No. 698 last Friday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis to help the Cardinals rally from a three-run deficit and defeat the Reds. Before hitting No. 699, five of Pujols’ previous six home runs had been to tie the game or put the Cardinals ahead. Plus, there’s this stat to back up just how important Pujols has been to the Cardinals’ rise to the top of the NL Central: Prior to Pujols’ 699th home run, the Cardinals were 15-1 in games in that he had homered and was 3-0 in the instances in which he hit two home runs.

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In the days after No. 698, Pujols went 0-for-9 in the next three games, keeping him from approaching 700 in front of packed crowds at Busch Stadium. Some 94,977 fans packed Busch Stadium for Saturday’s doubleheader in hopes of seeing Pujols reach 700. Another 47,909 fans, comprising the Cardinals’ 26th total of the season and the sixth-largest crowd in 16-year history of Busch Stadium III. – attended Sunday’s game only to see Pujols and the Cardinals sit out.

Among his biggest home runs, Pujols hit his first home run (2001), 100th (2003) and 500th (2014) while playing on the road. He now has 465 home runs as a Cardinal, 222 as an Angel and 12 with the Dodgers.

The 700th homer was Pujols’ 22nd career against the Dodgers and 18th at Petco Park, one of 40 past and present MLB ballparks in which he has homered.

After slashing .215/.301/.376 with six homers, 20 RBIs and a .676 OPS in the first half of the season, Pujols has begun to resemble the feared slugger he was much earlier in his career. He slashed .313/.377/.657 with 13 homers, 33 RBI and a 1.034 OPS in his first 47 second-half games. Pujols had just four home runs through June before tossing three in July and eight in August. No. 699 was his fifth home run of September.

 

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