Angels' Pujols on RISP issues: 'I don't think about that (stuff)'
The Los Angeles Angels lost to the Chicago White Sox on Tuesday night after the offense couldn't put together timely hits against Carlos Rodon and the Sox' bullpen.
Among the Halos that couldn't deliver was Albert Pujols, who hit into a 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded and one out in the eighth inning.
Jeff Fletcher of the O.C. Register crunched the numbers, and they aren't especially great for Pujols: including Tuesday, he's hitting just .215 (20-93) with runners in scoring position this season, far below his career RISP average of .328.
As you'd imagine, Pujols wasn't very interested in talking about his RISP woes after the game. Fletcher captured a particularly fiery quote and shared it on Twitter:
Albert Pujols, on his troubles with runners in scoring position this year. pic.twitter.com/gNUw7EB9Zl
— Jeff Fletcher (@JeffFletcherOCR) August 12, 2015
For what it's worth, Angels manager Mike Scioscia later reinforced the team's preference to have Pujols up in big spots - even if the stats this season don't support it: “I think early on, he was hitting the ball better than some of his numbers showed. As the season has gone on, I think he’s done better in those situations. There aren’t many guys we want out there in those situations on our team outside of Albert, even though some of the raw numbers aren’t as good as they have been in past. He’s gotten some big hits for us, but didn’t happen tonight.”
