ST. LOUIS -- Before the Pirates and Cardinals threw the first pitch Friday, Albert Pujols got his moment of recognition back home.
Back in Busch Stadium for the first time since reaching the 700 home run plateau, Pujols was treated to a video on the scoreboards, a ceremony, a bat, plenty of flashing 700s throughout the stadium and a giant posted out in the ballpark village looking on from center field.
Ironically, he wouldn't be at 700 home runs for much longer. In the bottom of the fourth inning, he made it 701, launching a hanging Johan Oviedo slider up into the third-deck for a solo shot en route to a 2-1 Cardinals victory.
Pujols to Big Mac Land! pic.twitter.com/Mzq4vD630c
— St. Louis Cardinals (@Cardinals) October 1, 2022
"I knew he was sitting on the slider just because of how he was swinging earlier," Oviedo said. "I just couldn't execute it. He's got 700 for a reason and he didn't miss that one. Hopefully next time I can get him out."
Oviedo could potentially get one more crack at Pujols -- his spot in the rotation technically comes up again Wednesday, the regular season finale. But this is the end for Pujols, who is retiring at the end of this season.
When he does walk away from the game, he will leave behind a legacy of being one of the greatest right-handed hitters in the history of the game, the first Latino ball player to reach 700 homers and, in a much smaller scale, being one of the biggest Pirate-killers in the history of the sport.
Pujols vs. the Pirates was almost destined to be a legendary mismatch. The future Hall of Famer debuted with the Cardinals and even departed for the Angels before the Pirates had snapped a streak of 20 straight losing season. Pujols got to face lesser pitching many times during his first stint with the Cardinals, and he feasted.
Digging through the data through Baseball Reference's Play Index, here is where Pujols ranks against all hitters the Pirates have faced since 1901 (min. 200 PA).
Batting Average: .352 (9th)
Slugging Percentage: .665 (1st)
OPS: 1.102 (2nd)
Home runs: 55 (T-10th)
Home runs is perhaps the most impressive you consider that Pujols has played in far fewer games than the other 10 who have homered at least 55 times against, the most recent of whom was Mike Shmidt:

There are some milestones in there, too. Earlier this month, Pujols hit career home run No. 696 and 697 at PNC Park, tying and then passing Alex Rodriguez for fourth all-time in baseball history. The Pirates and Cardinals are playing each other five more times to wrap up this season, so Pujols is guaranteed to hit his last regular season home run against this team he has tortured his whole career.
And as Pujols showed Friday, he is still a threat, even at the end.
"I think we're seeing one of the best hitters of our generation," Derek Shelton said. "He's had an unbelievable second half. You cannot make mistakes to him right now. We made the one mistake to him and he hits it out of the ballpark. What he's done over the course of his career, and especially what he's done over this second half is extremely special."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• The Pirates' only run of the game came off the bat of Ji Hwan Bae, who didn't even swing. With Ben Gamel on third and two outs in the fourth, he squared up a bunt that fan no man's land between the mound and the second baseman Brendan Donovan and just beat the glove flip for an RBI infield single.
"It really doesn't matter [that there were two outs]," Shelton said. "When you run that well and you're that good a bunter, the ability to do that and read the situation, I think it was really impressive."
Even with that drag bunt, the Pirates were just 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position (Rodolfo Castro's second inning base hit did not yield a run)
• JT Brubaker threw another live batting practice Friday. Saturday will be the most important day to gauge where he is at, but there's a strong possibility he can make that last start.
• Some transaction news: Nick Mears, Junior Fernandez and Tucupita Marcano are all with the team this trip as members of the taxi squad since the minor-league season is over.
Additionally, Michael Chavis and Greg Allen, both of whom were designated for assignment Monday, cleared waivers and were outrighted to Class AAA Indianapolis. They both have enough service time to declare free agency this winter.
• With the loss, the Pirates fall to 59-98 on the season. They are 3-11 against the Cardinals this season. They need to go at least 4-1 against them down the stretch in order to avoid a second straight 100-loss season.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
• Scoreboard
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• 7-day concussion list: C Tyler Heineman
• 15-day injured list: RHP JT Brubaker (right arm inflammation), LHP Eric Stout (low back discomfort)
• 60-day injured list: Yerry De Los Santos (lat), OF Canaan Smith-Njigba (wrist), RHP Colin Holderman (right shoulder), RHP Blake Cederlind (elbow), RHP Max Kranick (elbow), C Roberto Pérez (hamstring)
THE LINEUPS
Shelton's card:
1. Oneil Cruz, SS
2. Bryan Reynolds, CF
3. Miguel Andújar, DH
4. Jack Suwinski, RF
5. Ke'Bryan Hayes, 3B
6. Ben Gamel, 1B
7. Rodolfo Castro, 2B
8. José Godoy, C
9. Ji Hwan Bae, LF
And for Oliver Marmol's Cardinals:
1. Brendan Donovan, 2B
2. Lars Nootbaar, RF
3. Paul Goldschmidt, 1B
4. Nolan Arenado, 3B
5. Albert Pujols, DH
6. Juan Yepez, LF
7. Dylan Carlson, CF
8. Yadier Molina, C
9. Tommy Edman, SS
THE SCHEDULE
Game two of this final road series will be at 7:15 p.m. Eastern Saturday. Rookie Luis Ortiz (0-1, 1.17) will try to continue to make a good first impression, squaring off against Jordan Montgomery (8-6, 3.50). It's just the Pirates, the Cardinals and me the rest of the way.
THE CONTENT
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