Cleveland Indians right fielder Ryan Raburn has been named the American League Player of the Week for the period ending May 5th Raburn batted .591 (13-for-22) with four home runs, nine RBI, one double and five runs scored over five games to notch his first career weekly honor. He is the first Indian to garner the A.L. Player of the Week Award since Asdrubal Cabrera on April 11, 2011.
Among Major League hitters for the period, Raburn led in batting average, slugging percentage (1.182) and total bases (26), was tied for first inon-base percentage (.591) and base hits, was tied for second in homers and was fourth overall in RBI.
On Monday, the 32-year-old Raburn turned in a career-high-tying four hits, including a pair of homers and four RBI as Cleveland rolled to a 9-0 shutout victory over the Kansas City Royals at Kauffman Stadium. With the Indians maintaining a narrow two-run lead, the Tribe offense opened up the contest with a six-run sixth inning capped by a three-run blast to left field from the Florida native, extending Cleveland’s advantage to eight. Later in the game, Raburn connected on his second homer, this time leading off the eighth inning with an opposite-field solo shot to right. The two-homer outing was Ryan’s first since August 29, 2010 in Toronto. In an Interleague matchup against the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday at Progressive Field, Ryan launched two more long balls as part of Cleveland’s seven-homer attack in a 14-2 victory. The Tribe’s seven homers were their most ever at home and fell one shy of the franchise record of eight, set twice with the last on July 16, 2004 in Seattle.
