Cardinals’ Albert Pujols soars into history with 700th career home run

St Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols hit his 700th career home run on Friday night, connecting for his second drive of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers and becoming the fourth player to reach the milestone in major league history.

The 42-year-old Pujols hit No 699 in the third inning, then launched No 700 in the fourth at Dodger Stadium.

With the drive in the final days of his last big league season, Pujols joined Barry Bonds (762 homers), Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) in one of baseball’s most exclusive clubs.

It’s been a remarkable run for Pujols. This was his 14th home run since the start of August for the NL Central-leading Cardinals, and his 21st of the season.

7️⃣0️⃣0️⃣ #Pujols700 pic.twitter.com/XyddSFPpcQ

Pujols’ historic homer was a three-run shot against Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford. The ball landed in the first few rows of the left-field pavilion, the same location his two-run shot touched down the previous inning off left-hander Andrew Heaney.

Pujols received a prolonged standing ovation from the crowd he finished out last season while playing for the Dodgers. He took a curtain call, raising his cap in acknowledgment.

The fans chanted “Pujols! Pujols!” They finally sat down after being on their feet in anticipation of seeing history.

Pujols snapped a tie with Alex Rodriguez for fourth on the list when he hit career homer No 697 against Pittsburgh on 11 September.

Reaching 700 homers seemed like a long shot for Pujols when he was batting .189 on 4 July. But the three-time NL MVP started to find his stroke in August, swatting seven homers in one 10-game stretch that helped St Louis pull away in the division race.

“I know that early in the year ... I obviously wanted better results,” Pujols