Albert Pujols was hitless in 23 at-bats entering Saturday night, the second-longest drought of his career behind an 0-for-25 slump Sept. 12-19, 2015. He had a team-low .138 average yet somehow led the Angels with 10 runs batted in, which says a lot about the state of the offense these days.
With Seattle starting Felix Hernandez, who held Pujols to 11 hits in 53 at-bats (.208), it seemed like a good time to give Pujols a night off to "let him exhale a bit," as Manager Mike Scioscia likes to say in these situations.