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 Pujols hit three home runs during a doubleheader sweep of the Boston
Red Sox, the Angels winning the first game 11-1 and taking the
second game 7-3. With it, the Angels completed a four-game series
sweep and increased their lead in the American League West to two
games over the idle Houston Astros.
After Sunday's game between the two teams was rained out -- the
first rainout in Anaheim since June 16, 1995 -- the Angels braced
for a long day, but it became easier when the Angels scored seven
runs in the second inning of Game 1.
Pujols hit his first homer of the day in that inning, then added two
more in the nightcap. He now has 549 career homers, moving past Mike
Schmidt into 15th place on the all-time list.
The three extra-base hits in the games increased his career total to
1,138, passing Ty Cobb for 12th on the all-time list.
"It seems like every time Albert hits a home run, there's a Hall of
Famer he's passing," Angels manager Mike Scioscia said. "He's
getting to some of the immortals now. Some of the guys who have made
incredible footprints in our game, and he's going to be one of them
eventually. Every time he hits one, you just wonder who he's
catching now."
Manny Ramirez, with 555 career homers, is next on the list. For now,
Pujols says he's concerned with helping the team win.
"I enjoy it because today I was able to do something to help my
ballclub win," said Pujols, who went 4-for-7 with a walk and four
RBIs in the two games. "To be able to pass Mike Schmidt is pretty
special to me because I remember when I was a rookie he came around
to the Cardinals camp because he's a really good friend of Tony La
Russa. He spoke to our ballclub and I got to know him."
While Pujols stole the show, the Angels continued to roll. They have
won five in a row and 11 of their last 13. The Red Sox, however, are
going in the opposite direction; they've lost six of seven and
remain in last place in the AL East, 8 1/2 games behind the Yankees.
The Angels outscored the Red Sox in the series 22-4.
"We fully expected to come in and put together a better series than
the way it played out," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "Tonight,
after a tough first game, I thought we came out and swung the bats
well (in Game 2), had a number of hard-hit balls hit right at
people."
Only one of Boston's hard-hit balls did much damage. Two of Boston's
runs came in the sixth inning of the second game when designated
hitter David Ortiz homered off Angels starter Andrew Heaney. Before
then, the Red Sox had scored one run in 32 innings against Angels
pitching.
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Other than giving up the homer, Heaney was outstanding again. He
went seven innings, gave up five hits, walked none and struck out
four. Since being called up to replace the injured Jered Weaver,
Heaney is 4-0 with a 1.57 ERA in four starts.
Boston's Game 2 starter, knuckleballer Steven Wright (3-3) got the
loss after allowing six runs on six hits in three walks in five
innings.
Already down 1-0, Wright found trouble in the third inning when the
Angels scored four times on three walks, a hit batter and three
singles, two of which didn't leave the infield.
"(Wright) was getting under some pitches that were staying up,"
Farrell said. "There was a lot of movement to the knuckleball
tonight. He was trying to find a release point that would allow it
to finish in the strike zone."
Trout hit a knuckleball for his 28th homer of the year leading off
the fifth inning to put the Angels up 6-0.
The Angels won Game 1 of the doubleheader 11-1, thanks to a big
inning, scoring seven runs in the second inning against Red Sox
starter Eduardo Rodriguez. Right fielder Kole Calhoun and Pujols hit
home runs in the inning, and third baseman David Freese added a
three-run homer in the fourth.
Angels starter Hector Santiago (7-4) gave up one run in five-plus
innings to get the win.
NOTES: Mike Trout started Game 2 of the doubleheader as the Angels'
designated hitter. He has started all of the Angels' 92 games this
season, three of them at DH. ... Red Sox manager John Farrell said
before Game 1 that 2B Dustin Pedroia would play in Game 1 but not
Game 2 of the doubleheader. But Pedroia, who missed 15 games with a
strained hamstring, was in the starting lineup for Game 2. ... The
Red Sox offense snapped a string of 21 consecutive scoreless innings
when 1B Mike Napoli drove in a run with a single in the fourth
inning of Game 1.
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