Josh Fogg may have been the Rockies’ “Dragon Slayer” during their Rocktober run to the 2007 World Series, but he never could neutralize Albert Pujols.

At age 42, in his swan song season with the Cardinals, Pujols entered the weekend only six home runs away from entering a baseball galaxy where few have ever soared. Only Barry Bonds (762), Henry Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714) have hit 700 home runs. Of Pujols’ 694 career homers, three came off of Fogg.

“He only hit three homers off me? Only three? It felt like a heck of a lot more than that,” Fogg said with a chuckle.

For the record, Pujols was 13-for-33 (.394) off Fogg, with four doubles in addition to the three dingers.

“I was a righty, he hits righty,” Fogg said. “You’d think I might have an advantage. I never had an advantage against Albert.”

Fogg, who lives in Tampa, Fla., helps coach his 15-year-old son Koy’s high school baseball team. This year, Pujols became a topic of discussion.

“I’m working with the pitchers, and everybody’s first question is, ‘Who’s the toughest guy you ever faced,” Fogg said. “So I list off some guys: Barry Bonds, I got him out a bunch. Ken Griffey Jr. got some homers off me. But Albert Pujols was the toughest hitter I faced.”

The kids shake their heads in disbelief.

“They go, ‘Really? Albert Pujols?’ ” Fogg said with a laugh. “They see Albert now and they see the old man. But I tell them, ‘You don’t understand, for a 10-year period he was probably better than anybody in the history of the game.”

Pujols made his major league debut against the Rockies on April 2, 2001, at Coors Field. He was 21. He started in left field and was 1-for-3, getting his first big-league knock off Rockies left-hander Mike Hampton — a single to left field in the seventh inning. The Rockies won 8-0.

Since then, Pujols has homered off 450 different pitchers in the regular season, in 40 different parks, with 12 walk-off home runs to serve as memory markers.

Pujols has launched home runs off 24 different Rockies pitchers and he’s hit 13 out at Coors Field. It seems as if it should have been more, especially considering that he hit five homers against Colorado — three at Coors Field — in 2001 when he put together one of the greatest rookie seasons in history. He hit .329 with 47 doubles, 37 homers, 130 RBIs and 112 runs scored.

But after 11 years in the majors, Pujols left St. Louis and the National League in December 2011, signing a 10-year, $254 million contract with the Angels. His chances to rake off Rockies pitchers and watch his homers soar into Denver’s mile-high sky were greatly diminished.

Nevertheless, specific Pujols home runs are burned into the brains of Rockies pitchers. Following are four of those pitchers and their memories.

Josh Fogg, July 21, 2002, PNC Park

OK, Fogg was a rookie pitching for the Pirates at the time, so this Pujols homer didn’t come when Fogg was wearing Colorado purple. But Pujols’ 60th career homer is too good a story to pass up.

The Cardinals were consistently beating the Pirates and manager Lloyd McClendon was sick to death of it. He was particularly sick of the Pirates getting clubbed by outfielder Jim Edmonds and, of course, Pujols.

Edmonds had singled off Fogg in the first inning, so McClendon had a serious pow-wow with Fogg in the dugout.

“McClendon said, ‘If Edmonds comes up and there’s anybody on base, just hit the (blankity-blank). He’s killing us,’ ” recalled Fogg.

In the third inning, Placido Palanco hit a one-out double, leaving first base open. So veteran Pirates catcher Jason Kendall signaled for Fogg to plunk Edmonds. The problem was that Edmonds dodged three inside fastballs.

“So Edmonds steps out of the box and gives me this bad look,” Fogg continued. “But then, Lloyd McClendon, from the dugout, yells, ‘Geeze, if you can’t hit him, just walk him then!’ ”

At that point, Edmonds turned his anger from Fogg to McClendon and the two had a confrontation near home plate. Kendall grabbed Lloyd and Fogg grabbed Edmonds. A brouhaha was close to breaking out.

“So here I am, restraining the guy I just tried to hit,” Fogg said. “I’m just a rookie, but I’m saying, ‘Hey Jimmy, it’s fine, no worries.’ But Edmonds screams, ‘Shut the (blank) up rookie!’ So I lose my mind and now I’m trying to kill Edmonds.”

The benches and bullpens emptied but there were no punches thrown and there were no ejections. When some semblance of order was restored, Fogg threw ball four to intentionally walk Edmonds.

“So, who do you think comes up?” Fogg asked. “Of course, Albert Pujols. But I think I’m just going to blow him away because I’ve got all of this energy boiling inside me.

“I threw a two-seamer down and in, thinking I’m going to get a double-play ball. I probably threw it about 86 and he hit it about 450 feet to left field.”

Jason Jennings, July 25, 2006, Coors Field

“It’s a homer I’ll never forget until the day I die,” Jennings said of Pujols’ 234th career homer.

On that particular day, Jennings was matched up against Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter, the 2005 NL Cy Young Award winner. Jennings was brilliant, throwing nine innings of four-hit baseball with four strikeouts and one walk. But the Rockies lost, 1-0, on Pujols’ two-out homer to right field in the sixth inning on a 1-1 count.

“It was one of the best changeups I ever threw to a right-handed hitter,” Jennings recalled. “Somehow, that guy hit it into the first couple of rows above the scoreboard in right field.

“I had really good stuff that day. I threw him a changeup down and away, I don’t know how he hit it out. Let me put it this way. There was no other right-hander that I ever faced, that could have hit that pitch, in that location, out of the ballpark. It just didn’t happen.

“I just have to tip my cap to him because I don’t think I would have done anything differently. He was just that good.”

Jason Hirsh, May 30, 2007, Coors Field

The Rockies were attempting to win eight games in a row for the first time since Aug. 26-Sept. 2, 1997. Pujols had other plans, smacking career home run No. 259.

“I remember it well,” Hirsh said. “It hasn’t landed yet.”

In the top of the third, Pujols hit a pop foul near the visitor’s dugout at Coors.

“I screamed, ‘Stay fair! Stay fair!’ ” Hirsh recalled.

The ball did stay fair and Rockies third baseman Garrett Atkins pocketed it for the out.

No big deal, right? Wrong.

“In the dugout (outfielder) Willie Taveres — he was pretty tight with Pujols — says to me, ‘What did you say to Albert? He’s really (ticked) off,’ ” Hirsh recalled. “He must have thought I said something completely different, I’m not sure what.”

In the fifth, Pujols came up with two on base and no out. He obliterated Hirsh’s first pitch, sending it to deep left-center field for a three-run blast.

“I swear he walked three-quarters up the first baseline, staring me down,” Hirsh said.

To add pain to injury, Edmonds hit Hirsh’s very next pitch over the fence. Hirsh was done, having given up eight runs on 10 hits.

Austin Gomber, Aug. 18, 2022, Busch Stadium

Gomber, pitching in relief of fellow left-hander Kyle Freeland, had served up Pujols’ career homer No. 687 at Coors Field eight days earlier in St. Louis’ 9-5 victory.

The homer he served up at Busch Stadium, No. 690, was a doozy.

Gomber replaced starter Antonio Senzatela in the second inning when Senzatela went down with what turned out to be a season-ending knee injury. In the third, with the bases loaded and two outs, Pujols entered the game as a pinch hitter.

He demolished Gomber’s 1-0 fastball for a grand slam. It was Pujols’ 16th career grand slam, but his first as a pinch hitter. His 16 slams put him in elite company, tying him with Aaron, Ruth and Dave Kingman for 10th all-time.

“First and foremost, it’s cool to face a guy like that, somebody who’s been in the league since I was 7 years old,” a philosophical Gomber said. “Looking back, later in life, it will be more of a big deal than it is to me right now.”

But being part of Pujols’ quest for the magic 700 is not lost on Gomber.

“To be an unfortunate part of his history is just part of the game,” Gomber said. “I mean, the guy has hit almost 700 homers and more than 400 guys have given them up, right? The way I look at it, it’s a privilege to be in the situation to be able to face a guy like that.”

Albert Pujols’ home runs vs. Rockies

A look at each of the home runs Albert Pujols has hit off Rockies pitchers during his 22-season career.

Landmark home runs for Albert Pujols