Pujols, Trout Homer In Angels' Win Against Tampa Bay Rays
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Albert Pujols hit his 537th home run Thursday night to move ahead of Mickey Mantle into 16th place on the all-time list and complete the scoring for the Los Angeles Angels in a 6-2 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.
Pujols' 17th home run of the season, which came in the ninth inning off Preston Guilmet, was his 1,122nd extra-base hit, tying Manny Ramirez for 14th place in that category. The 35-year-old first baseman has 1,685 RBIs, one short of Ernie Banks who is 29th on the all-time list.
Mike Trout drove in two runs with his 17th home run and a double.
Trout, who had three straight hits, hit his sixth homer in 11 games off Rays starter Alex Colome for the Angels' first run. Trout's two-out double off Brad Boxberger drove in another run in the seventh after rookie Kyle Kubitza's single had given Los Angeles its first lead of the game, 3-2.
Pujols' home run was his second of the series and ninth in 13 games.
Garrett Richards (6-4) pitched seven innings for the Angels, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out seven.
Former Angel Kevin Jepsen (1-4) took the loss after giving up all three runs in the decisive seventh.
Steven Souza Jr.'s 12th home run gave the Rays a 2-0 lead in the second after Richards walked Logan Forsythe. That score stood until Trout's homer in the sixth.
Colome gave up one run and four hits while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings.
The Angels had 14 hits in winning for only the second time in eight games.
Joey Butler had two of the Rays' five hits.
(Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
