Albert Pujols predicted what he was going to get.
The veteran slugger told manager Oliver Marmol he was going to homer on the first pitch thrown at him Tuesday. Then he did just that.
Pujols hit his first home run since returning to St. Louis, and Andrew Knizner hit a three-run shot as the Cardinals beat the Kansas City Royals 6-5.
“When you have 680 home runs you can make those kinds of predictions,” the Dominican said. “I had good feelings. Sometimes you are lucky and this happens”.
Nolan Arenado homered again for St. Louis, which has won 20 of 27 interleague games against the St. Louis Royals since 2017.
Salvador Perez hit a pair of homers and Michael A. Taylor homered for Kansas City, which has allowed 33 runs and lost its last three games.
Pujols, 42, who also hit two singles in a 3-for-4 performance, signed with the Cardinals on March 28, for what will be the final season of his career. The veteran slugger played for St. Louis from 2001 to 2011 and helped them win two World Series titles.
In the first inning, Pujols found the first pitch thrown to him by Daniel Lynch (0-1) and sent the ball over the left field fence, to the delight of the crowd, which chanted their idol’s name and caused him to stand in the stairway of the cave, to thank the ovations.
Jordan Hicks (1-0) got the win with two innings of shutout relief. Mexican Giovanny Gallegos earned his first save of the season.
For the Royals, the Venezuelan Pérez 4-2 with two runs scored and two RBIs. The Dominicans Carlos Santana 4-0, Adalberto Mondesi 4-1 with a run scored.
For the Cardinals, Dominican Pujols 4-3 with two runs scored and one produced.