Matt Carpenter named National League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason

Red-hot St. Louis Cardinals infielder Matt Carpenter has been named the National League Player of the Week presented by W.B. Mason for the period ending July 22nd.  The announcement was made Monday on MLB Network.
Carpenter batted .529 (9-for-17) with eight runs scored, two doubles, six home runs and 10 RBI over five games played to claim his third career NL Player of the Week Award, last winning for the period ending June 5, 2016. Matt paced all Major Leaguers in home runs, RBI, runs scored, slugging percentage (1.706), extra-base hits (8) and total bases, and among NL leaders, finished tied for first in hits; tied for third in doubles; and fifth in on-base percentage (.619). This is St. Louis' second weekly award of the 2018 season, following Carpenter's teammate Marcell Ozuna (June 17th).
On Friday afternoon against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field, Carpenter batted 5-for-5 with four runs scored, two doubles, three home runs and seven RBI to lead the Cardinals to an 18-5 victory. The three-time NL All-Star became just the second player since at least 1908 to log two doubles and three home runs in a single contest (also Kris Bryant in his NL MVP-winning 2016), and the first to do so with seven RBI. In addition, the versatile 32-year-old became the fifth player in MLB history to amass five extra-base hits and at least seven RBI in a game, joining Jackie Bradley Jr. (August 15, 2015), Josh Hamilton (May 8, 2012), Shawn Green (May 23, 2002) and Joe Adcock (July 31, 1954). With his blast to lead off the game, the TCU product matched Hall of Famer Lou Brock for the team's all-time lead-off home run mark (21), and also established the franchise single-season record with six lead-off homers thus far in 2018. During the Cardinals' doubleheader against the Cubs on Saturday, Carpenter, who was a candidate on this year's Camping World All-Star Final Vote, clubbed a round-tripper in each contest to extend his home run streak to six games. The left-handed-hitting slugger became the first player in team history to homer in six consecutive games within the same season. Entering play today, "Carp" is joined by 2018 All-Star Francisco Lindor of the Cleveland Indians as the only players in the Majors this season with at least 30 doubles and 25 home runs.
Other noteworthy performances last week included outfielder Corey Dickerson (.500, 7 R, 8 H, 4 RBI) and utility player Sean Rodriguez (.500, 6 R, 3 XBH, 5 RBI) of the Pittsburgh Pirates; 2018 All-Star outfielder Matt Kemp (.462, 5 R, 3 XBH, 1.000 SLG) of the Los Angeles Dodgers; first baseman Anthony Rizzo (.600, 9 H, 3 RBI, 6 BB) of the Cubs; 2018 All-Star starting pitcher Zack Greinke (1-0, 1.13 ERA, 8.0 IP, 13 SO) of the Arizona Diamondbacks; and Matt's teammate Tommy Pham (.444, 6 R, 8 H, 6 RBI).
In recognition of his National League Player of the Week Award, Matt Carpenter will be awarded a watch courtesy of Rockwell.