Pujols takes the mound for the first time
The veteran slugger took the mound for the first time in his career as a closer in the St. Louis Cardinals’ convincing 15-6 victory over the San Francisco Giants, in which Adam Wainwright and Yadier Molina set a major league record for wins by a starting battery.
Puerto Rico’s Molina homered and drove in four runs, Wainwright worked six efficient innings and the Cardinals beat Carlos Rodon from the start. Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each added two-run homers for St. Louis, which won two of three games in the series after losing two of three to the Baltimore Orioles. Goldschmidt drove in three runs.
Pujols, the Cardinals’ designated hitter, made his 22nd professional start on the mound in the ninth inning. He gave up a three-run home run to Mexico’s Luis Gonzalez and a solo homer to Joey Bart but got the final three outs by a wide margin.
“It’s a dream come true to be able to say I did it,” said Pujols, fifth on MLB’s all-time home run list with 681. “It was fun. It wasn’t fun to allow two bombs. I think the fans had fun. I’m sure the guys who hit it out of the park did, too.”
Pujols, 42 (42-119), became the oldest player to make his major league pitching debut since Lena Blackburne, who also did it at 42 (42-225)in his final game as a player/manager for the Chicago White Sox in 1929.
With a comfortable 13-run lead and the game all but decided, Pujols listened as his manager, Oliver Marmol, asked for a volunteer to pitch the final episode to avoid using another reliever.
“They were looking and I said ‘I’ll do it, why not,'” said Pujols, who was jeered by his teammates.
LaMonte Wade Jr. connected on a one-out grounder to the Dominican to close out the game.
Wainwright and Molina set a new major league record with their 203rd win as a starting battery. They surpassed Warren Spahn and Del Crandall, who accumulated 202 wins with Boston and the Milwaukee Braves from 1949 to 1963.
Both St. Louis players have started a combined 311 games, for third all-time behind Spahn/Crandall (316) and Mickey Lolich/Bill Freehan (324) of the Detroit Tigers from 1963-75.
Joc Pederson fired a two-run homer for San Francisco, which suffered its second loss in a row after winning six straight games.
With a single with two outs, Molina capped a four-strikeout first inning against Rodon (4-2). The 39-year-old catcher hit a two-run home run off reliever Zack Littell in the fifth inning to make the score 11-0.
Weinwright (4-3) conceded two runs and three hits. He struck out five and gave up two walks. The 40-year-old righty retired 14 of 15 batters he faced. Gonzalez hit the Giants’ first hit with a single with two outs in the fifth.
