Albert Pujols homers to pass Mickey Mantle for 16th in career home runs

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Albert Pujolshit his 537th homer to move past Mickey Mantle into sole possession of 16th place on the career list.

The Los Angeles Angels slugger connected in the ninth inning of Thursday night's 6-2 win over theTampa Bay Raysto break a tie with the New York Yankees great.

"I'm catching more breaks, I guess," Pujols said. "I've been swinging the bat well all year long, and if you stay with that approach, sooner or later they're going to fall. I'm not going out there and trying to hit a home run every time. Just trying to put on a good swing and let the rest take care of itself."

Pujols hit a two-run shot to left on an 0-1 pitch from Preston Guilmet. He has gone deep nine times in his past 13 games.

"We hear about Mickey Mantle again; [Pujols] tied him and now he's ahead of him,'' said Angels manager Mike Scioscia. "Every time he hits one, it's fun to follow the names that keep coming into the conversation."

Pujols' 17th home run of the season was his 1,122nd extra-base hit, tying Manny Ramirez for 14th in that category. The 35-year-old first baseman has 1,635 RBIs, one short of Ernie Banks, who is 29th on the all-time list.

Mike Schmidt is in 15th place with 548 homers.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.