Hot-hitting Beltre wins AL Player of Month

Adrian Beltre was named the American League Player of the Month on Monday, his third such honor with the Rangers.

Beltre batted .369 with four doubles, nine homers, 19 RBIs and 13 runs scored over 26 games. He tied Alfonso Soriano for the Major League lead in homers and tied with Torii Hunter for the MLB lead in total bases (69).

Beltre also finished among the AL leaders in slugging percentage (second, .670), hits (tied for second, 38), extra-base hits (tied for fourth, 13), RBIs (tied for fifth) and batting average (sixth). And Beltre capped off his award-winning month in style, blasting a walk-off homer to lead the Rangers past the Angels on Wednesday.

Beltre has received AL Player of the Month honors four times, most recently with the Rangers in September 2012. He is one of seven players to win the monthly award multiple times with Texas, joining Josh Hamilton (four), Rafael Palmeiro and Alex Rodriguez (three each) and Ivan Rodriguez, Juan Gonzalez and Ruben Sierra (two apiece).

The 34-year-old slugger's two homers on July 4 moved him past Joe DiMaggio (361) for the 75th spot on the Major Leagues' all-time home run list. He went on to crush another one the next night and put together another two-homer game on July 9.

Beltre's seventh career walk-off homer on Wednesday -- his first with Texas -- completed the Rangers' three-game sweep over the Angels. Each of Texas' victories ended with a game-winning homer. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the Rangers became the first team to win three straight games in that fashion since the 2004 Tigers.