ANAHEIM, Calif. — Albert Pujols hit three homers while the Angels swept a doubleheader from the Boston Red Sox on Monday, connecting twice and seizing the major league lead from Mike Trout during Los Angeles’ 7-3 victory in the nightcap.
Trout also homered and rookie Andrew Heaney pitched seven strong innings in the second game of the Angels’ first home doubleheader since 2003. Pujols, Kole Calhoun and David Freese homered during an 11-1 win in the first game.
Pujols homered in both games of a doubleheader for the first time in his career. He caught and passed Mike Schmidt for 15th place in baseball history, hitting his 549th career homer in the seventh.
Trout pulled even with Pujols with his 28th homer in the fifth, but Pujols nudged back ahead with his 29th.
The All-Star duo homered in the same game for the seventh time this year and the 24th time in their 31/2 seasons together.
Pujols drove in three runs in the nightcap, while Erick Aybar added two hits and two RBI as AL West-leading Los Angeles (52-40) swept its four-game series with Boston despite the first rainout at Angel Stadium in 20 years Sunday. The Angels have won five straight and 15 of 18 overall.
Heaney (4-0) won his fourth straight decision in his first month with the Angels, yielding five hits without a walk.
David Ortiz posed at the plate when he hit a two-run homer in the sixth for the Red Sox, who were outscored 22-4 in the series. With its fifth straight defeat, Boston (42-51) dropped into a last-place tie with Seattle in the overall AL standings.
Aybar had a two-run single during a four-run third inning in the nightcap as the Angels consistently tagged knuckleballer Steven Wright (3-3), who yielded six hits and six runs in the Southern California native’s first appearance since June 20.
Pujols cracked his 547th homer during the Angels’ seven-run second inning in the opener. He reached the short left-field porch with a solo shot in the second inning of the nightcap, passing Ty Cobb for 12th place in baseball history with his 1,137th extra-base hit.
Pujols then drew a bases-loaded walk in the third as the Angels scored four times with just two hits, all with two outs.
The day off didn’t hurt the Angels’ lineup, but their All-Star starter had an inconsistent return to work. In Game 1, Hector Santiago (7-4) matched his career high with 10 strikeouts despite laboring into the sixth inning with 114 pitches.
Santiago hadn’t pitched for the Angels since July 10, and he didn’t appear in the All-Star Game.
“I didn’t know where my breaking ball or my cutter was going to be,” said Santiago, 3-0 with a 1.13 ERA and 30 strikeouts in his last five starts. “Nine, 10 days off, it isn’t fun. “
Mike Napoli drove in Boston’s only run of the series’ first three games in the fourth inning. The last-place Red Sox lost their fourth straight.
Johnny Giavotella had a two-run single and Daniel Robertson hit an RBI double over a flailing Hanley Ramirez in left during Los Angeles’ big rally against Eduardo Rodriguez (5-3), who left after 12/3 innings.
The Angels eventually scored seven runs in a span of eight pitches by the 22-year-old Venezuelan.
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