Dodgers' Yasiel Puig named NL Player of the Week

Los Angeles Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig has been named the National League Player of the Week after he batted .429 (9-for-21) with seven runs scored, a double, five home runs, nine RBI, three walks, and a stolen base over seven games played.

This was Puig's third career NL Player of the Week Award, as he last won for the period ending May 18, 2014.  This is the Dodgers’ second Player of the Week award this season, following his All-Star teammate Matt Kemp (June 3rd).

Among his NL counterparts, Puig finished the week first in batting average, home runs, RBI, slugging percentage (1.190) and total bases (25); tied for second in runs scored and extra-base hits (6); third in on-base percentage (.500); and tied for third in hits.

On Friday night against the St. Louis Cardinals at Busch Stadium, Puig clubbed a pair of solo home runs as part of a three-hit game to lead the Dodgers to an important 3-0 win.  The Cuban native enjoyed one of his best games as a Major Leaguer in the following contest on Saturday, driving in a career-high seven runs to go along with his first career three-homer game.

Yasiel joined NL MVP candidate Matt Carpenter (July 20th) of the St. Louis Cardinals as the only players in the Majors this season to record three home runs and seven RBI in a contest.

In addition, the dynamic outfielder became just the fourth Cuban-born player to ever reach those totals in a game, joining Jose Canseco (June 13, 1994), Yoenis Céspedes (August 21, 2015) and Kendrys Morales (August 31, 2017).  Puig became just the ninth player in franchise history to log back-to-back multi-homer games (last: Cody Bellinger; June 11-13, 2017), and the 24th player in Club history to post a three-homer game (last: Corey Seager; June 20, 2017).

Additionally, the 2014 All-Star became just the second player in Dodgers lore to record five round-trippers in consecutive games, joining Shawn Green, who accomplished the feat on May 23-24, 2002.

Entering play today, the Dodgers (82-68) are tied with the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot, and sit just a half-game behind the Colorado Rockies (82-67) in the tight NL West.

By Staff of TheDailySportsHerald.com and news services