Ozuna, Gattis power up as Players of the Week
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The Astros' Evan Gattis and the Cardinals' Marcell Ozuna were named American and National League Players of the Week presented by W.B. Mason on Monday.
Houston enters this week having won 11 straight contests, and Gattis has been a major contributor to the club's recent success. The 31-year-old backstop hit .417/.423/1.000 (10-for-24) with two doubles, four homers and 15 RBIs in six games last week.
• Past winners:AL | NL
Gattis' sixth-inning grand slam Friday night was the difference in the Astros' 7-3 win over the Royals at Kauffman Stadium. It gave him 14 home runs on the season, tying him for the team lead with George Springer. His 47 RBIs are also tied for fifth most in the AL, entering Monday.
"Honestly, we were all expecting him to do damage," third baseman Alex Bregman said Friday in Kansas City. "I think everybody in the dugout, there was a little bit of buzz, saying, 'All right, Gatty might hit a grand slam and keep those big RBI games up.' He's killing it."
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Gattis is the second Houston player to win Player of the Week this season, joining Justin Verlander, who won it in mid-April.
After a slow start to the season, Ozuna is red hot at the plate. He batted .455/.478/1.000 with four home runs and eight RBIs in six games last week, raising his average from .282 to .294.
The Cards slugger hit .260/.308/.337 with three home runs in the first two months of the season (50 games), and he is slashing .411/.450/.821 with seven homers through 15 games in June.
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"That's the kind of hitter we know he can be," St. Louis manager Mike Matheny said last week. "He's dangerous, and that's what we expected from the beginning and what we know he's going to be through this season."
This is Ozuna's third Player of the Week award. He won it twice with the Marlins last season, in mid-April and early September.