Albert Pujols Gets 3000th Career Hit

The Los Angeles Angels’ Albert Pujols reached another milestone in his career, collecting his 3000th career hit in the Angels’ 5-0 win over the Mariners in Seattle on May 4th. It was a broken bat single in the fifth inning off Mike Leake that made Pujols the 32nd player in major league history to reach 3000 hits. In the ninth, Pujols drove in two runs with a single off reliever Casey Lawrence for career hit number 3001, moving him ahead of Roberto Clemente on the all time hit list.

Pujols is also only the fourth player to have 600 home runs and 3000 career hits, burnishing his credentials as a first ballot Hall of Famer when his playing days are over (the others are Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Alex Rodriguez). While he no longer is a perennial .300 hitter as he was in his days with the St. Louis Cardinals, Pujols still hits homers and drives in runs as a productive part of the Angels’ batting order. Last season he hit 23 homers and drove in 101 runs and in 2016 he hit 31 homers with 119 RBIs. The Angels are battling the Houston Astros for the top in the American League West, looking for their first post season appearance since 2014.