Giolito, Machado named Players of the Week
The White Sox Lucas Giolito and the Padres’ Manny Machado were named the MLB Players of the Week presented by Chevrolet on Monday.
Giolito threw the first no-hitter of the 2020 season on Tuesday, striking out 13 Pirates hitters, a franchise record in a no-no or perfect game. It was another chapter in his turnaround story from 2018, when he had the highest ERA among qualified starters. Giolito became the fourth pitcher to have the highest qualified ERA in a season and then go on to throw a no-hitter later in his career, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
This is Giolito’s second Player of the Week recognition. He also won for the week ending June 2, 2019. This is the second straight week that a White Sox player has won AL Player of the Week -- José Abreu did so last week.
Machado’s Player of the Week Award is his second consecutive such honor. Before last week, he hadn’t won Player of the Week since April 2018.
Machado hit .538 this past week, with a 1.000 slugging percentage and three home runs. Those three home runs all came on the same day: in a doubleheader against the Mariners on Thursday, when he hit two in the first game and one in the second game.
Machado is the first player to win Player of the Week in consecutive weeks in either league since Francisco Lindor in May 2018, though Lindor shared one of those weeks with James Paxton.
The last player to win in back-to-back weeks without sharing the award was J.D. Martinez in Sept. 2017.
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