Baltimore Orioles first baseman Chris Davis has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending June 12th. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.
Davis batted .368 (7-for-19) with five runs scored, five home runs, a double and 10 RBI over six games to claim his fourth career AL Player of the Week Award, last winning with the Orioles on June 2, 2013. Chris paced the Majors in home runs, slugging percentage (1.211) and total bases (23), while finishing the period tied for first in extra-base hits (6) and tied for third in RBI.
In Thursday's series-opening game against the Toronto Blue Jays at the Rogers Centre, Davis went 2-for-3 with three RBI, including the game-tying home run in the seventh inning. Additionally, the Texas native delivered the game-winning sacrifice fly in the ninth to secure an O's victory. On Sunday against the Blue Jays, the 30-year-old veteran delivered his fifth homer in as many games to go along with a pair of RBI. The two-run blast in the fifth inning extended his homer streak to five games, marking the second time in his career that he has gone deep in five consecutive games. The 2013 AL All-Star, who also accomplished the feat as part of a six-game homer streak during the 2012 season (September 26th-October 2nd), joins Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson as the only players in club history to homer in six straight games (July 18-23, 1976). Since the beginning of the 2012 season, the left-handed-swinging slugger leads all of Major League Baseball with 175 round-trippers. Entering play today, Baltimore's powerful offense leads the Majors in home runs (99), with Mark Trumbo (20), Davis (16) and Manny Machado (16) all ranking within the top five in the AL. Led in large part by their robust offense, the Orioles are currently tied with the Boston Red Sox atop the AL East with a 36-26 record.
Other noteworthy performances last week included Chris' aforementioned teammate Machado (8 R, 9 H, 4 2B, 6 XBH); Xander Bogaerts (.500, 5 R, 12 H, 11 RBI) of the Red Sox; Michael Saunders (.500, 6 XBH, 22 TB, 1.000 SLG) of the Blue Jays; Carlos Beltran (.346, 6 R, 3 HR, 11 RBI) of the New York Yankees; and Michael Fulmer (2-0, 0.00 ERA, 12.0 IP, 8 SO) and Ian Kinsler (.320, 6 R, 2 HR, 10 RBI) of the Detroit Tigers.
In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Chris Davis will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.