New York, NY (Sports Network) - Tampa Bay right-hander Matt Garza and Blue Jays outfielder Jose Bautista have been named co-Players of the Week for the American League for the period ending August 1.
Garza became the fifth player to pitch a no-hitter this season when he dominated the Tigers in a 5-0 final this past Monday at Tropicana Field. It was the first no-hitter in Rays history.
The 2008 ALCS MVP went on to make a second start during the period on July 31 versus the Yankees and took a no-decision while fanning nine in seven innings of the eventual 5-4 loss.
Bautista homered in all but two of Toronto's six games last week and hit five in all to increase his league-leading total to 32 for the season. He had an 8- for-12 series to start the week in a three-game sweep of Baltimore that included a four-hit, two-homer, five-RBI game. He went 3-for-3 with a home run and four RBI to open a weekend set against the Indians and ended the period batting .545 with 13 RBI.
A 2010 All-Star, Bautista led the majors with 11 home runs in July, making him the first Toronto player ever to lead the league in homers in at least two different months of a single season.
Dating back to September 1, 2009, Bautista leads the majors with 41 home runs, seven in front of the next closest player (Prince Fielder's 34).
Others considered for the weekly honor were Twins teammates Joe Mauer, Danny Valencia and Delmon Young, Boston Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz, Minnesota southpaw Francisco Liriano, White Sox hurler Gavin Floyd and fellow Rays pitcher James Shields.
Colorado Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has been named the National League Player of the Week.
The 24-year-old slugger hit .533 last week, going 16-for-30, with four home runs, seven runs batted in and an NL-leading 1.067 slugging percentage. His 16 hits, 10 runs scored and 32 total bases led the major leagues over the last seven days.
Gonzalez hit safely in six of seven games, including five multi-hit games, and belted a home run in four straight games from July 28-31. He added a pair of doubles, two steals and had a .559 on-base percentage.
He capped his week with an electrifying performance in Saturday's game against the Cubs. Gonzalez slammed the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth to complete hitting for the cycle to become just the fifth player in history to hit a walk-off homer in the same game as their cycle and the first to do since Boston's Dwight Evans on June 28, 1984.
Other nominees for the weekly award included Gonzalez's teammate Dexter Fowler, Washington's Ian Desmond, Houston's Chris Johnson and Brett Myers, Adam LaRoche of Arizona, Cincinnati's quartet of Brandon Phillips, Scott Rolen, Joey Votto and Bronson Arroyo, the Marlins' foursome of Mike Stanton, Anibal Sanchez, Ricky Nolasco and Leo Nunez, David Wright of the Mets, Roy Halladay of Philadelphia and Chad Billingsley of the Dodgers.
