Albert Pujols ties Sammy Sosa for most homers by foreign-born player

Albert Pujols snapped a two-week home run drought during Friday’s game against the Orioles and made some history in the process.

With his two-run first-inning homer against Jeremy Hellickson, Pujols upped his career total to 609. That ties him with Sammy Sosa for eighth place on the all-time home run list and first among players born outside the United States.

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Pujols became the ninth member of MLB’s 600 home run club in a win against the Twins on June 4. It came in dramatic fashion as he tucked a grand slam just inside the left-field foul pole at Angel Stadium.

Friday’s homer wasn’t in the air nearly as long, but had plenty of its own drama as the low line drive cleared the fence by mere inches.

Whether it’s 350 feet and just over the wall like this one, or 450 feet like Pujols has done so frequently in the past, they all count the same.

The homer had an eerie background too thanks to the threatening weather that delayed the start of the game for half an hour and turned the sky into an orange glow.

The atmosphere had no impact on Pujols or any or the other hitters involved in this slugfest. Each team hit five home runs, but the Orioles got the final word on Manny Machado’s walk-off grand slam in the ninth. The homer was Machado’s third of the game as the Orioles topped the Angels 9-7.

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Mark Townsend is a writer for Big League Stew on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at bigleaguestew@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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