Lucas Duda and Noah Syndergaard named National League Co-Players of the Week

First baseman Lucas Duda and starting pitcher Noah Syndergaard of the New York Mets have been named National League Co-Players of the Week for July 27th-August 2nd. The announcement was made earlier today on MLB Network.

Duda led the Majors with seven home runs last week, a 1.632 slugging percentage and 31 total bases while tying for the NL lead with 10 RBI and seven runs scored. The left-handed-hitting slugger posted a .474 batting average (9-for-19) last week, good for second in the NL with a .524 on-base percentage, which ranked fourth. Duda powered the Mets to a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals over the weekend, helping his club earn a share of first place atop the NL East. On Sunday night, his home run and pair of RBI led the Mets to a 5-2 win in the series finale at Citi Field. His second hit of the night, a lead-off single to start the sixth inning, ended his stretch of 10 hits that each went for extra bases and drove in a run. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the longest such sequence since 2005, when Cleveland Indians slugger Travis Hafner accomplished the same feat. In Saturday's matchup between the division rivals, Duda drove in all three of New York's runs in a 3-2 victory. The California native hit two home runs as part of a 3-for-3 outing, giving him a Major League-best five multi-homer games on the season. The multi-homer performance was Duda's second of the week after clubbing a career-high three long balls in Wednesday's 7-3 loss to the San Diego Padres. His 21 home runs are tops on the club this season. This is his first career weekly honor.

Syndergaard, a rookie right-hander, was a perfect 2-0 in two starts last week while fanning a Major Leagueleading 18 in an NL-best 16.0 innings of work. His 1.13 ERA (2 ER/16.0 IP) was tied for 10th among qualifying NL pitchers last week. The 22-year-old flamethrower scattered seven hits across 8.0 innings of work on Sunday night while striking out nine Nationals without issuing a walk en route to his sixth win of the season. The performance came on the heels of another 8.0-inning, nine-strikeout, no-walk effort in his previous start on Tuesday in which he held the visiting Padres scoreless while allowing only three hits in a 4-0 win. His 18 strikeouts last week give the Texas native 100 in his 15 starts this season. That total is the fourth-most in Mets history for a pitcher in his first 15 career games behind Dwight Gooden (113), teammate Matt Harvey (109) and Nolan Ryan (106). Syndergaard currently ranks third among Major League rookies in strikeouts behind Tampa Bay's Nate Karns (106) and San Francisco's Chris Heston (101). This is his first career weekly award.

Other noteworthy performances last week included Colorado's DJ LeMahieu (.481, 7 R, 13 H, .548 OBP); San Diego's Yangervis Solarte (.444, 4 R, 12 H, .464 OBP); Miami's Jose Fernandez (1-0, 0.75 ERA, 15 SO, 12.0 IP); and Hector Rondon (0-0, 1.80 ERA, 4 SV, 4 SO, 5.0 IP) of the Chicago Cubs.

In recognition of their National League Player of the Week Awards, Lucas Duda and Noah Syndergaard will each be awarded a watch courtesy of Game Time, the leader in licensed sports watches, available at MLB.com.