Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies and Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies have been named National League Co-Players of the Week for the week of July 20-26, 2015. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Gonzalez led the Majors with five home runs and a 1.190 slugging percentage last week, and paced the National League with 11 RBI and 25 total bases while tying for the NL lead with nine runs scored. His .476 batting average (10-for-21) ranked fifth among qualifying NL batters and he ranked tied for sixth in hits. Cargo capped his week with a 3-for-4 performance on Sunday, clubbing two home runs with four runs scored and six RBI during a 17-7 win over the Cincinnati Reds. The four runs tied a career high (also: April 12, 2012 vs. San Francisco) for the Venezuelan-born slugger, while the six RBI also matched a career-best, which he has accomplished on four other occasions (most recently: July 3, 2011 vs. Kansas City). The multi-homer game was the second of the season for Gonzalez, who also went deep twice in Friday’s 6-5 victory over the Reds. He now has 12 career multi-homer games. This is his fifth career Player of the Week citation (most recent: June 10-16, 2013).
Hamels tossed the third no-hitter of the 2015 Major League season on Saturday, firing 9.0 shutout innings with 13 strikeouts and two walks in a 5-0 win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. It was the first career individual no-hitter for Hamels, who started and pitched 6.0 innings in a combined no-hitter on September 1, 2014, when he joined Jacob Diekman, Ken Giles and Jonathan Papelbon in no-hitting the Atlanta Braves. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Hamels is just the fifth pitcher in Major League history to throw a no-hitter of his own and be involved in a combined no-hitter. The others were Vida Blue, Kent Mercker, Mike Witt and Kevin Millwood. Hamels’ effort on Saturday marked the first no-hitter thrown against the Cubs since September 9, 1965, when Hall of Famer Sandy Koufax spun a perfect game (Elias). With the no-hit victory, the three-time All-Star notched his sixth win of the season while running his season strikeout total to 137, marking the NL’s fifth-highest mark. This is his second career Player of the Week Award (also: August 13-19, 2012).
Other noteworthy performances last week included Washington’s Ian Desmond (.478, 8 R, 11 H, 4 HR, 7 RBI, 1.000 SLG); Cincinnati’s Todd Frazier (.286, 7 R, 8 H, 2 HR, 10 RBI, .607) and Joey Votto (.500, 9 R, 12 H, 2 HR, .636 OBP); Arizona’s Rubby De
La Rosa (2-0, 0.60 ERA, 7 SO, 15.0 IP); and San Diego’s Craig Kimbrel (0.00 ERA, 4 SV, 3 SO, 4.0 IP).
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