At age 42, Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals continues to hit home runs. On Sunday in a 2-0 Cardinals win over the Chicago Cubs, Pujols hit his 16th home run of the season. However this home run, the 695th of his electric Major League Baseball career, had historical significance. That is because Pujols tied the Expansion Era record (since 1961) for the most home runs all-time in the eighth inning or after according to ESPN. Pujols now has 32 home runs in the eighth inning or later, and is tied with Mike Schmidt and Graig Nettles for the most all-time.
Pujols’ Sunday Home Run
On Sunday at Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Pujols hit a one-out eighth inning home run that also scored Cardinals shortstop Tommy Edman on Cubs relief pitcher Brandon Hughes. It was the only two runs scored in the entire contest and broke a 0-0 deadlock. What is also interesting is that Pujols hit a pinch-hit home run. It was his second pinch hit home run in 2022. The first came in a 13-0 Cardinals win over the Colorado Rockies on August 18. In this contest, Pujols hit in a pinch hit home run in the third inning, stayed in the game as a designated hitter, and ended up with five runs batted in.
Pujols’s 2022 Statistics
Pujols is set to retire at the end of the season, but continues to hit the baseball with consistency. He is batting .272 with 16 home runs and 43 runs batted in. Pujols has also scored 29 runs and had 63 hits, 11 doubles, one stolen base, 22 walks, 122 total bases, five sacrifice flies, a .348 on base percentage and a .526 slugging percentage.
Cardinals lead NL Central
St. Louis appears to be playoff bound. They currently have a record of 79 wins and 56 losses, and have a 7.5 game lead over the Milwaukee Brewers for first place in the division.
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