St. Louis Cardinals' Albert Pujols pitches against the San Francisco Giants during the ninth inning of Sunday's game at Busch Stadium. Jeff Curry-USA TODAY Sports

Watch: Albert Pujols makes first career pitching appearance

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports | By Larry Brown | Last updated 5/15/22

This is Albert Pujols’ final MLB season, and he’s making sure to check all items off his bucket list.

Pujols went 2-for-3 with two runs scored and two walks in his St. Louis Cardinals’ 15-6 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday night. But it wasn’t at the dish where he made his biggest contribution.

Pujols pitched the final inning of the game and helped close out the Cardinals’ win. Take a look at this 54-mph heat he was tossing up there:

Albert Pujols records his first out as a pitcher pic.twitter.com/gc8vKcDdMw

— Redbird Reject (@RedbirdReject) May 16, 2022

That was the first out he ever recorded. But it went downhill from there.

Pujols allowed four runs on three hits and a walk. He surrendered back-to-back home runs — a three-run shot to Luis Gonzalez and a solo blast to Joey Bart. But he didn’t surrender the 13-run lead!

With the game being such a blowout, the Giants also used a position player to pitch. Gonzalez threw 1.1 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit. He looked like a high-arc softball pitcher and tricked some of the Cardinals’ hitters with his high lobs.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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