Albert Pujols has moved into increasingly rarefied territory over his decorated 18-year career in the Majors. On Friday night, he reached another prestigious summit, lining a single to right field in the fifth inning against Mariners right-hander Mike Leake for his 3,000th hit. The Angels slugger added a two-run single in the ninth for No. 3,001, driving in two runs to help the Halos to a 5-0 win.

"It was going to happen, it was just a matter of when," Pujols said. "I just thank the Lord that it happened tonight in front of my family, my friends. Now we just stay focused on the things that I want to do, which is help this ballclub to win. We don't have to talk too much about 3,000 now."

Pujols, 38, became the 32nd player to reach 3,000 and the second from the Dominican Republic, after Adrian Beltre. With 620 homers, he is only the fourth player to collect 3,000 hits and 600 home runs, joining Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Alex Rodriguez.