Acuña is NL Player of the Week; Ohtani, Germán share AL honor

There had been too many unimaginable performances final week to suit into simply two weekly honors. While Ronald Acuña Jr. was named NL Player of the Week introduced by Chevrolet, Domingo Germán and Shohei Ohtani shared the award within the AL.

For Germán, the rationale for inclusion right here is a straightforward one: perfection. On Wednesday, Germán threw an ideal recreation in an 11-0 win over the Athletics, the twenty fourth such recreation in AL/NL historical past and first since Félix Hernández in August 2012. Among the myriad enjoyable information concerning the recreation, these two stand out: He solely wanted 99 pitches to get it performed, and he had allowed a mixed 15 earned runs in 5 1/3 innings in his prior two begins. The excellent recreation was Germán’s solely begin of the week, making him a straightforward selection for his first profession Player of the Week Award.

Speaking of simple decisions, MVP front-runners Ohtani and Acuña continued their historic seasons final week, making Player of the Week honors a straightforward name. Like Germán, Ohtani solely had one begin on the mound final week, but it surely was a historic one. On Tuesday, Ohtani allowed one run and had 10 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings pitched, whereas additionally hitting two house runs in a 4-2 win over the White Sox. It was simply the sixth occasion since 1900 of a participant throwing 10 strikeouts and hitting a number of house runs in a recreation, and the primary by an AL participant since 1963.

Of course, Ohtani’s litany of statistical accomplishments for the week didn’t finish there, as he completed the seven-day span with six house runs and a 1.783 OPS, together with this career-long 493-foot bomb, the longest homer in MLB this season. This is Ohtani’s second Player of the Week Award of the previous month, and the sixth of his profession.

Over within the NL, Acuña’s stats carefully mirrored Ohtani’s (or, a minimum of, Ohtani’s hitting stats). Despite having one fewer recreation to do it in, Acuña hit 5 house runs final week to go along with a 1.916 OPS, three steals and a 6-0 crew file. This was merely the newest achievement in a exceptional season for Acuña, who grew to become the first participant to have 20-plus homers and 35-plus steals earlier than the All-Star break.

The Braves bought much more {hardware} by additionally incomes the Play of the Week Award, due to a classy play from Ozzie Albies and Orlando Arcia on Tuesday in opposition to the Twins. Ever hear of a 4-6-3 “single play?” It’s not one thing you see day-after-day, however the Atlanta center infielders confirmed off each their athleticism and improvisation abilities to nab Minnesota’s Max Kepler at first. Everything’s developing roses for the Braves recently, who completed with an unimaginable 21-4 file in June, and this internet gem was yet one more instance.