Pujols gets RBI No. 2,000 as Angels rout Detroit Tigers

Albert Pujols notched the 2,000th RBI of his career with a solo homer, Tommy La Stella homered twice and drove in four runs and the visiting Los Angeles Angels coasted to a 13-0 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.Pujols achieved his milestone with a two-out blast in the third inning. Hank Aaron (2,297) and Alex Rodriguez (2,086) are officially the only other players in the modern era with more runs batted in. Some sources also credit Babe Ruth (2,214) and Cap Anson (2,075) with crossing the 2,000-RBI mark, but a portion of those totals came before the stat was made official in 1920.“There are some 20,000 players who have played this game and to be the [fourth] one on that list … that’s amazing,” Pujols said.“I thank God for the ability and the talent. I thank my family and my wife and kids, my coaching staff, the players. You don’t accomplish it by yourself. You have to have guys on base and get the opportunity to drive them in. Look at that number. That’s a big number.”Shohei Ohtani collected his first two hits this season. Ohtani returned to the lineup in the series opener on Tuesday after recovering well enough from Tommy John surgery to swing a bat without restrictions. He went hitless in the first two games of the series.Felix Pena (2-1), who entered the game in the second inning, tossed seven innings of scoreless relief to get the victory. He allowed only three hits, walked none and struck out seven. Justin Bour and Kole Calhoun also homered. Zack Cozart drove in two runs, and Calhoun scored three runs. Tigers left-hander Ryan Carpenter (0-1), who was recalled from Triple-A Toledo, gave up six runs on eight hits in five innings. The Angels scored two runs in the first inning. After the first two batters reached, Ohtani singled home the first run. The second came in on Andrelton Simmons’ double-play grounder.Los Angeles made it 5-0 in the second. Cozart hit a sacrifice fly before La Stella drilled a two-run shot to right field.Pujols’ long ball upped the lead to 6-0, and Calhoun hit a solo homer in the sixth. La Stella led off the seventh with his second homer of the game. David Fletcher then tripled, and Mike Trout brought him in with a sacrifice fly.Rockies hang on to top Giants 12-11 in snowNolan Arenado, Mark Reynolds and Ian Desmond homered, Chris Iannetta had a tiebreaking double in the sixth inning, and the Colorado Rockies held on to beat the San Francisco Giants 12-11 in snowy Denver on Thursday afternoon.Arenado had three hits and reached base five times, and Wade Davis picked up his sixth save after giving up two runs in the ninth. Tyler Austin went deep twice and drove in six runs for the Giants.The game was played in cold, raw weather with the temperature 39 degrees at game time. Snow fell in the first inning.It was tied 8-8 midway through the sixth when the Rockies struck for three runs against the San Francisco bullpen. Raimel Tapia doubled off of Tyler Beede (0-1), and Mark Melancon walked Desmond. Iannetta followed with a two-run double, and pinch hitter Daniel Murphy drove him in with a ground-ball single that went off first baseman Austin’s glove.The Giants got a run in the eighth on a double by Stephen Vogt, but Trevor Story got the run back with an RBI single in the bottom half. In the ninth, Brandon Crawford had an RBI double, and Joe Panik drove him in with a single. Vogt struck out to end it. Arenado hit a two-run homer, his 10th, in the first, and Reynolds made it 3-0 on the next pitch with his fourth home run of the season.In the second inning, Reynolds had a two-run double to left-centre field, and Desmond went deep for his fourth homer of the season to make it 7-0. The Giants clawed their way back to make it a game. Austin hit a two-run homer, his first of the season, with one out in the third. The Giants scored three more in the fourth inning on two Colorado errors among a double and a single, making it 7-5. Arenado drove in another run with a two-out single to centre in the fifth inning off Beede. Austin wiped out the lead with a two-out, three-run homer off reliever Bryan Shaw in the sixth inning.Shaw (2-0) got the win despite walking two and giving up the home run.Colorado starter Kyle Freeland went five innings, allowing five runs (three earned) on four hits and four walks. Giants starter Derek Holland was charged with seven runs on seven hits and four walks in 2 2/3 innings.