Suddenly one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball, Los Angeles Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols recorded his 54th career multi-homer game in Tuesday’s 8-6 win over the first-place Texas Rangers, tying Frank Robinson and Manny Ramirez for 10th place on the all-time list for multi-homer performances, per ESPN Stats & Info.
Although the 2016 season has mostly been a prolonged headache for the underperforming 36-year-old slugger and his non-contending team, there have finally been some signs of life in July, with the Angels winning 10 of their 15 games for the month, including all five contests since the All-Star break.
Pujols actually continued to struggle throughout much of that stretch, going 10 straight games without a home run from July 3 through Saturday, nearly dropping his slugging percentage below .400 in the process.
Naturally, he ended the brief slump in a huge way Sunday against the Chicago White Sox, cranking a pair of home runs that moved him into sole possession of 10th place on the all-time list for extra-base hits, in addition to giving him 53 multi-homer games.
Pujols then went hitless during Monday’s 9-5 win in Anaheim, but he bounced back in enormous fashion Tuesday night, reaching base in all four of his plate appearances—highlighted by a pair of three-run homers (in the fourth and fifth innings) off of Rangers starter Kyle Lohse.
The future Hall of Famer needed just three days to raise his slugging percentage from .409 to a season-high .447, and he’ll also enter Wednesday with his on-base percentage (.331) at a high-water mark for the year.
Of course, even with Pujols heating up and the team playing its best ball all season, the Angels still own an ugly 42-52 record that leaves them 12.5 games back in the division and 10.5 back of the final wild-card spot.
As for the record for multi-homer games in a career, Babe Ruth (72) and Barry Bonds (71) are unlikely to face competition from Pujols for the top two spots, per Baseball Almanac.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com