Pujols continues red-hot month with 2 mammoth blasts

Albert Pujols is locked into one of the hottest stretches of his career, and he knows it. So do the Houston Astros.

Pujols continued his summer surge with another huge game Monday, homering twice and driving in three runs to help the Los Angeles Angels to a 4-3 win over the Astros. Pujols' two homers - his American League-leading 22nd and 23rd of the season - raised his career mark against the Astros to 48, passing Hank Aaron for the most by an opposing player.

(Courtesy: MLB.com)

The tape-measuring shots - which traveled a combined 863 feet - increased Pujols' career total to 543, leaving him just five behind Mike Schmidt for 15th on the all-time list.

Pujols, who has 12 homers this month, is riding one of the most prolific stretches of his career, according to ESPN Stats & Info:

Among the benefactors of Pujols' resurgence has been Mike Trout, who scored on the slugger's first homer - a two-run shot to straightaway center in the fifth - to put the Angels in front 2-1. The star duo have scored or driven in 86 of the team's 107 runs since May 28, according to MLB.com's Alden Gonzalez.

"Obviously, you want to have success every time you go to the plate, but it's impossible," Pujols told reporters after the game. "So the best thing you can do is get yourself ready for the game and prepare yourself. Sometimes you're going to ride it for a while, and sometimes you get away from it for a while. Now I just feel good."

Pujols' second blast, a mammoth 443-foot solo blast to left-center - gave him 50 career multi-homer games, which is the most in the majors since he made his debut in 2001.

"This is the best I've felt in two or three years," he said. "I just try not to get too caught up in anything."