Pujols powers past Sosa
He hits his 610th homer, the most by foreign-born player, as Angels roll.
Albert Pujols seemed to take a beat longer as he made the final strides toward home plate. History deserved such an extra moment of appreciation.
Pujols is all alone now. He hit his 610th career home run in the seventh inning Tuesday night at Angel Stadium to break a tie with Sammy Sosa for the most home runs by a player born outside the U.S.
Pujols drove a 2-2 slider from Texas Rangers reliever Nick Gardewine into center field to give the Angels a 10-1 lead that stood as the final score.
Pujols’ homer was the topper to an excruciatingly slow game the Angels needed to keep pace in the American League wild-card race. It also provided the bookend contrast to Kaleb
Cowart, the Angels’ No. 9 hitter who broke open the game earlier with a three-run home run in the fifth inning, his fifth career homer and third in August.
Pujols nearly had a home run in the first inning, but he hit a double off the centerfield wall to bring Mike Trout home and open the scoring. Trout kept doing his part to set up Pujols as he singled twice and walked. He has hit safely 28 times in 34 games since he returned from injury.
It took a while for runs to manifest with slow-working starters Ricky Nolasco of the Angels and the Tyson Ross of the Rangers. Nolasco threw 82 pitches through four innings but gave up only one run. It was a welcome turnaround for Nolasco considering he yielded 13 runs in two previous outings against Texas this season.
Ross needed 80 pitches to get through the first three innings and was relieved after Kole Calhoun’s RBI double.
Calhoun also doubled in the sixth inning to set up Luis Valbuena for an RBI single.
The Angels got a scare in the fourth inning when Ben Revere fouled a ball off his left knee and received a visit from the trainer as he winced in pain. But he stayed in the game in a mostly solid start in place of Cameron Maybin, who pinch-hit. Revere singled and stole a base.
Angels manager Mike Scioscia said before the game that Maybin feels good but also that they’ll continue to ease him back from a knee injury.
Injury updates
JC Ramirez was waiting to talk to medical personnel, but the right-hander said he was told that, generally, he needed to go “a couple of weeks without throwing” in recovery from his elbow strain.
That scenario would push his return to September at the earliest. Asked if he would be able to pitch again this season, Ramirez said, “I’ll do everything possible to do it. I want to finish strong.”
Ramirez said he didn’t think it was anything more than soreness when he left his last start. The question of overuse comes into play because Ramirez has never previously handled a starter’s workload in the majors until this season. But he said he has felt great.
“It just happens,” Ramirez said. “[But] some guys say ‘You’re not used to this kind of innings … it could be [that] maybe you need the rest.’ ”
Right-hander Andrew Bailey was also expected to consult a doctor, but he expressed serious doubts about returning this season from a reoccurring shoulder strain.
“That’s a decision that is not up to me,” Bailey said. “I’d try to pitch through it. For me, I’d be out there 100%, trying to grind. But I think the trainers and doctors think right now it’s at risk for major injury due to some of the instability and the strain.”
Bailey threw a pitch to Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals on Aug. 15 and said he “felt a little slipping sensation in that shoulder joint.”
He doesn’t regret returning at that point because he was healthy and that it was time to attempt a return. But now he’s looking at another possible long rehabilitation. “When you injure your shoulder and then you do the rehab and it’s still not the same, you just don’t know,” Bailey said.
Short hops
Yunel Escobar (oblique strain) is taking ground balls. … The Angels wore socks that pictured Tim Mead, their longtime vice president of communications, before the game. … Jahmai Jones extended his hitting streak to 24 games for single-A Inland Empire.