Albert Pujols, Kris Bryant Each Homer Twice in Victories

One veteran in the latter stages of his career and one up and coming rookie each hit a pair of homers to lead their teams to victories on June 22nd.

Since Albert Pujols signed with the Los Angeles Angels in 2012, he’s put up decent numbers but not the production he had as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals from 2001-2011. Part of that was due to injuries limited him to 99 games in 2013, and part no doubt is due to Father Time and the wear and tear of playing nearly every day over the years. But the 35 year old first baseman still has something left in the tank. On June 22nd, Pujols homered twice as the Angels beat the Houston Astros 4-3 in Anaheim.

The two home runs were the 22nd and 23rd of the season for Pujols; he leads the American League in homers. He’s also fifth in runs batted in with 47. We’ll probably not see Pujols hit well into the .300s again (he’s at .275 and has hit as high as .359 for the Cardinals in 2003), but he’s still a valuable run producer.

On the other end of the career spectrum, we have Chicago Cubs rookie Kris Bryant. The 23 year old Bryant, who arrived this season with much fanfare, is panning out well. On June 22nd, Bryant hit two home runs—including one off Cy Young winner Clayton Kershaw—as the Cubs beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in 4-2 in Chicago.

Bryant now has 10 homers, 42 RBIs and a .282 average in 60 games with the Cubs this season.