ANAHEIM -- "The Machine" continues to pass legends on his way to history.
Angels designated hitter Albert Pujols continued his climb up the all-time home run ladder in Friday night's 7-4 loss to the A's, tying Harmon Killebrew for 11th all-time with his first-inning, two-run homer off of Oakland left-hander Eric Surkamp -- for No. 573 of his career.
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With Mike Trout on first base, Pujols turned on a 90-mph fastball right down the middle and launched it a Statcast-projected 443 feet over the left-field wall to give the Angels a 2-1 lead over the Athletics. It was his second-longest home run this season (448 feet), and the third-longest by an Angel. It was also his first home run since June 5 at Pittsburgh.
Pujols now needs 10 homers to tie former Athletics and Cardinals slugger Mark McGwire for 10th all-time with 583 home runs. Pujols surpassed Reggie Jackson (563) and Rafael Palmeiro (569) on the all-time list earlier this season.