Cardinals legend Albert Pujols smashes 691st, 692nd career homers against Diamondbacks

St. Louis Cardinals legend Albert Pujols continued his march toward history Saturday night against the Arizona Diamondbacks. Pujols socketed his 691st and 692nd home run of his career, both against Madison Bumgarner, which has given him six home runs in his last eight games as he aims to become the fourth player of all time with 700 home runs.

Here are Pujols’ two home runs on Saturday. The eight bases total gives him 6,141 in his career, putting him past Hall of Famer Stan Musial and into sole possession of second all-time. Hank Aaron, the all-time leader, had a total of 6,856 bases in his career.

Pujols has announced that he will retire after the season. Saturday is St. Louis’ 119th game of the year, giving him 43 games to hit the eight home runs he needs to reach 700. This month shows he can pull it off, although it’s worth noting that the Cardinals are strong on Pujol’s turn, so his playing time depends on the opposing starter’s handedness as much as anything.

Here’s the all-time home run leaderboard. If it weren’t for the 2020 season curtailed by the pandemic, Pujols would almost certainly be in the 700 homer club already.

1. Barry Bonds: 762
2. Hank Aaron: 755
3. Babe Ruth: 714
4. Alex Rodriguez: 696
5. Albert Pujols: 692 and counting

Pujols has a chance to catch A-Rod before the end of the month. Heck, with the way he’s been swinging the bat lately, he might catch him by the end of next weekend. This recent home run binge means the hunt for 700 is officially on.

The Cardinals entered Saturday’s NL Central with a four-game lead and their September schedule is looking very favorable on paper (18 of their last 28 games are against the Nationals, Pirates and Reds). As they extend their lead to, say, 8-9 games over the next few weeks, would they give Pujols more starts against righties just to maximize his at-bats while chasing 700 home runs? It’s very possible.

Pujols, 42, came on Saturday with a .254/.333/.472 batting line and 11 home runs total, including .358/.404/.691 with seven homers against lefties.