Angels slugger Albert Pujols makes history again against the Texas Rangers
Texas Rangers manager Chris Woodward embraced the idea of DeMarcus Evans making his major league debut against Albert Pujols, arguably this generation’s greatest hitter.
It didn’t go well. For Evans, that is.
Pujols sent Evans’ second career pitch over the left-center field fence for his second home run, capping a historic night in a 6-2 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday night at Angel Stadium.
“Albert has hit 662 of them. Hats off to Albert, he’s still a pretty good player,” Woodward said. “I don’t think there’s anything that needs to be said to our pitchers. They threw some pitches that he just got ahead of and hit them out. I don’t think there’s anything that really needs to be said about it.”
Pujols homered earlier in the game off Rangers left-hander Wes Benjamin, breaking a tie with Willie Mays for fifth-place on the all-time list with 661. He added No. 662 a couple innings later off Evans.
It was Pujols’ first multi-homer game of 2020, and his first since May 11, 2019, against Baltimore.
Pujols passed Mays in the fifth inning, sending a 1-2 fastball by Benjamin over the left-field fence.
“I threw the one pitch I didn’t want to throw,” Benjamin said. “I wanted a fastball up and it just kind of yanked into the zone just enough and he was prepared for it.”
In the seventh inning, Pujols homered on a 1-0 fastball by Evans.
“I thought it was fine for D-Train to face him,” Woodward said. “Go right at him and Pujols beat him. Got to give credit to Albert.”
Benjamin was the 427th different pitcher to surrender a homer to Pujols, and Evans became the 428th. Only Barry Bonds has homered against more pitchers (449).
Pujols now trails Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Ruth (714) and Alex Rodriguez (696) on the career home run list.
This wasn’t the first time Pujols has made history at the Rangers’ expense.
This is the same man who hit three home runs in Game 3 of the 2011 World Series as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals defeated the Rangers that day, 16-7, and went on to win the Fall Classic in seven games.
Pujols became just the third player to hit three home runs in a World Series game, joining Ruth and Reggie Jackson.
The Rangers trailed all night Friday, falling behind 3-0 after six innings. They made it interesting by scoring two runs in the top of the seventh on a single by Willie Calhoun, but the Angels answered with Pujols’ solo shot in the bottom half.
This story was originally published September 18, 2020 at 11:54 PM.
