Cardinals' Albert Pujols Hits HR No. 695 vs. Cubs, 1 Shy of Tying Alex Rodriguez

St. Louis Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols is approaching the end of his legendary MLB career, and he's one step closer to achieving history before he hangs up his batting gloves for good.

Pujols launched his 695th home run on Sunday, putting him one shy of tying Alex Rodriguez for fourth-most all time.

Pujols' pinch-hit two-run blast in the bottom of the eighth broke a scoreless tie and propelled St. Louis to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Cubs.

Cardinals starter Miles Mikolas pitched eight scoreless innings with three strikeouts. The victory completed a three-game sweep for the Cardinals, who have won seven of their last eight games and improved to 79-55.

Sunday's homer continues a late-season resurgence for Pujols. The 42-year-old now has 16 home runs this season, and nine of them came after the start of August. If he continues raking like this, he has a chance to become the fourth player in MLB history ever to reach 700 career home runs.

With less than a month remaining in the regular season, the Cardinals a firmly in control in the NL Central with an eight-game lead over the second-place Milwaukee Brewers. There could be more opportunities for Pujols to be included in the starting lineup for some extra at-bats as the postseason approaches.

The Cardinals will host the Washington Nationals on Monday in the opener of a four-game series.