Pujols makes statement with words, actions

PITTSBURGH — Angels right fielder Kole Calhoun worked a full count in the sixth inning Sunday and lined out to first base. As he retreated to the dugout, fiery Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole stared him down and shot a few words in his direction. Calhoun didn’t hear it, but Albert Pujols did. And when Cole reached base on a single in the bottom half of the frame, Pujols voiced his displeasure to the Pirates’ ace, delivering what appeared to be a stern lecture.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” Pujols said of the exchange. “I said what I had to say to him, and that’s it.”

Two innings later, Pujols picked his teammates up in a different way.

Trailing by a run with one out in the eighth, the first baseman turned on a chest-high, 94-mph fastball from Pirates setup man Tony Watson and lined it over the left-field fence, good for the two-run home run that led the Angels to a 5-4 victory and allowed them to take two of three against a strong Pirates club at PNC Park.

The ball left Pujols’ bat at 103 mph, according to Statcast™. It was his 12th home run this season, the 572nd of his career — one away from Harmon Killebrew for 11th place on the all-time …

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