Pujols went 1-for-3 with a solo home run and a walk in a 2-1 victory over the Pirates on Friday.
Pujols turned on a 1-2 offering from Johan Oviedo in the bottom of the fourth inning to put the Cardinals on the board with a solo shot to left field that tied the game. It was his 701st career home run and the 22nd home run of his storybook 2022 campaign, which saw Pujols become only the fourth player in MLB history to reach the 700-home run mark. Pujols is slugging .527 in 298 at-bats this season. The last season in which Pujols slugged at this high of a rate was in 2011 (.541).