Mike Fiers of the Houston Astros named American League Player of the Week

Houston Astros starting pitcher Mike Fiers has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending August 23rd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Fiers recorded the 11th no-hitter in Astros history and the first in Minute Maid Park history en route to his first career AL weekly honor, and the first for a Houston pitcher since his teammate Dallas Keuchel won earlier this season on July 20th. It marked the fifth no-hitter this season by a Major League pitcher (Hisashi Iwakuma of the Seattle Mariners on August 12th, Cole Hamels of the Philadelphia Phillies on July 25th, Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals on June 20th and Chris Heston of the San Francisco Giants on June 9th).

On Friday in a home tilt with the Los Angeles Dodgers, Fiers, a Hollywood, Florida native, delivered the first Houston no-hitter since six pitchers combined for a no-hitter on June 11, 2003 against the New York Yankees (Roy Oswalt, Pete Munro, Kirk Saarloos, Brad Lidge, Octavio Dotel and Billy Wagner). It marked the first individual no-hitter for the Astros since Darryl Kile accomplished the feat on September 8, 1993 against the New York Mets. Tossing his first career complete game, the 30-year-old veteran threw a career-high 134 pitches, the most by an Astros starter since Scott Elarton threw 134 pitches in a complete-game win on August 27, 2000 at Montreal. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Fiers is the first pitcher since Jim Bibby in 1973 to throw a no-hitter after changing teams midseason (Bibby did so with the Texas Rangers after being acquired from the St. Louis Cardinals). Additionally, the Nova Southeastern University product became the first pitcher since Hideo Nomo of the Boston Red Sox in 2001 to earn his first win with a team by means of a no-hitter. Mike is the fifth starting pitcher to throw a no-hitter in Interleague Play and only the third AL pitcher to do so, joining Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers (2007) and the Yankees' David Cone (1999). Since Houston's inaugural season in 1962, only the Dodgers have thrown more no-hitters in the Majors (12). Entering play today as winners of five of their last seven games, the Astros lead the AL West by four games over the Texas Rangers.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Josh Donaldson (.524, 9 R, 3 HR, 13 RBI) and Edwin Encarnacion (.450, 8 R, 3 HR, 9 RBI) of the Toronto Blue Jays; Miguel Cabrera (.542, 6 R, 13 H, 6 2B) and Alfredo Simon (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SHO) of the Tigers; Chris Archer (1-0, 0.00 ERA, 1 CG, 1 SHO) of the Tampa Bay Rays; and rookie sluggers Miguel Sano (.321, 8 R, 4 HR, 9 RBI) of the Minnesota Twins and Mark Canha (.542, 1.000 SLG, .560 OBP, 24 TB) of the Oakland Athletics.

In recognition of his American League Player of the Week Award, Mike Fiers will be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.