Since June 2, Pujols has started all 10 games against southpaws before facing Freeland on Saturday. But once Bellinger, McKinstry, and Pollock returned, Pujols settled into a more specialized role. He started 10 of his first 15 games with the Dodgers, including six out of 11 games against right-handed pitchers. Just this month, Pujols reached 6,000 total bases, played in his 3,000th game (counting the postseason), and even passed Willie Mays in hits (or perhaps not, depending on whether Mays’ 10 hits with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues count toward his total).Įarly on, Pujols played quite a bit with so many others injured. Tsutsugo didn’t work out, and has since been sent outright off the 40-man roster to Triple-A. The fill-ins on the Dodgers bench - Luke Raley, Sheldon Neuse, and DJ Peters - weren’t cutting it, so literally anyone who could occasionally punish a fastball down the middle would have been welcome. The weekend those two deals came together, AJ Pollock strained his hamstring and Corey Seager was hit by a pitch on his hand that would end up costing him over two months. Cody Bellinger and Zach McKinstry were in the middle of lengthy injured list stints, and Edwin Ríos was out for the year.

At the time Pujols was signed, and first baseman/leftfielder Yoshi Tsutsugo was traded for, the Dodgers’ depth was greatly depleted.

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