The scarce crowd stood for the man they came to see, the 41-year-old future first-ballot Hall of Famer who last starred here a decade ago before leaving them and a wound behind.
St. Louis Cardinals catcher Yadier Molina stepped in front of home plate to give the fans at Busch Stadium for the Dodgers’ eventual 7-2 win time to show their love. They showered Albert Pujols with a 35-second standing ovation. He doffed his batting helmet to the crowd and tapped Molina’s shin guard with his bat. The close friends and former teammates, foes for four days this week, shared a half hug.
Then Pujols provided a familiar sight: a line drive over the left-field wall, in front of Big Mac Land, for the game’s first run. It was Pujols’ 679th career home run — his 207th in St. Louis and 113th at Busch Stadium’s latest iteration.
The 386-foot blast off left-hander J.A. Happ was the first of the Dodgers’ four home runs en route to their second straight win over a Cardinals club gasping for air in the National League wild-card race.
Justin Turner belted his 22nd and 23rd home runs of the season, his first homers since Aug. 15. Will Smith clobbered his 23rd in the sixth inning to go with three infield singles for his second career four-hit game.
Steven Souza Jr., who was called up before the game, hit an RBI double in the fourth inning before Cody Bellinger contributed with an RBI single. It was Bellinger’s first RBI since Aug. 26. On the mound, the Dodgers opted for a bullpen game, using nine relievers who held the Cardinals to two runs and eight hits and walked two.
Souza was added to the roster to effectively replace the injured AJ Pollock, who suffered a hamstring strain Saturday, because Bellinger’s struggles have become so detrimental.
Souza started in right field Tuesday to give Mookie Betts a break, but he is expected to mostly start in left field against left-handed starting pitchers. His presence as a right-handed hitter allows the Dodgers to move Chris Taylor to center field and bench Bellinger against left-handers. Bellinger is batting .115 in 88 plate appearances against left-handers this season.
Pujols, on the other hand, was signed by the Dodgers in May to start against left-handed pitchers and got the start Tuesday for that reason.
“Number one, having him in the lineup gives us a great chance to win a ballgame,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “Number two, it’s great for the game. I know Albert has really been looking forward to coming back here. He’s revered here, and rightfully so.”
The Cardinals expected a huge crowd and charged atmosphere for one of Pujols’ two scheduled starts in the four-game series. But Busch Stadium wasn’t even half full at first pitch. The ballpark was muted. The scene was overwhelmingly underwhelming.
It failed to match the electricity waiting for Pujols when he first visited as an opponent with the Angels in 2019. That weekend, Pujols received resounding standing ovations from sellout crowds before every at-bat.
Pujols took the field Tuesday with his new team, not playing every day for the first time in his career but feeling reinvigorated on a playoff-bound team for the first time in seven years. His career was a crossroads in May before the Dodgers picked him up to help withstand a storm of injuries.
Nearly five months later, he has surpassed expectations, still slugging away deep into his 21st major league season. On Tuesday, his old fan base caught a familiar glimpse when he turned on an 89-mph sinker the way he turned around so many pitches in his 11 seasons as a Cardinal. The fans stood and applauded while he trotted around the bases. It looked so familiar and so odd.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.