As a fitting end to a terrific Pirates road trip — seven wins in 11 games during stops in St. Louis, Phoenix and San Diego — Josh Bell picked up a relatively expected honor on Monday.
One of MLB’s hottest hitters and now its co-RBI leader, Bell on Monday was named the National League’s Player of the Week for games played May 13-19 after hitting .407 (11 for 27) with four home runs and 10 RBIs.
Bell also had a .484 on-base percentage and .889 slugging percentage.
It’s the first career Player of the Week Award for Bell and the first for a Pirates position player since Andrew McCutchen in October 2017.
Among NL leaders, Bell finished first in total bases (24); tied for first in hits, home runs and RBIs; and third in slugging percentage.
Bell will enter Tuesday’s home game against the Rockies with 14 home runs. That’s the most for a Pirate through 44 games since Willie Stargell had 15 in 1973.
Two of Bell’s seven games during this period featured multi-homer games, the second and third for him this season (May 4, 14 and 18). He’s the first Pirates player since Brian Giles (August 1999) to register three multi-homer games in a single month.
Jason Mackey: jmackey@post-gazette.com and Twitter @JMackeyPG.
First Published: May 20, 2019, 7:02 p.m.
