Bruce, Nolasco share NL's weekly honor

Jay Bruce and Ricky Nolasco earned National League Co-Players of the Week honors after the Reds right fielder socked four homers and the Marlins right-hander stymied opposing hitters over two outings.

Bruce paced all Major Leaguers with a .500 batting average (11-for-22) and 1.227 slugging percentage in six contests last week. The 25-year-old compiled a .542 on-base percentage and tallied 27 total bases.

"It's an honor to be mentioned in the same breathe with those guys like Eric Davis," said Bruce. "It's an honor.

"But I don't really think about it right now, honestly. I'll reflect on that type of stuff in the offseason and when I can kind of take a minute and take a deep breath and kind of look back. But right now the task at hand is winning, and winning with my team and continuing to win with my team like we've been doing all year."

The two-time All-Star notched seven hits in three tilts against the Phillies, and had one homer and a pair of RBIs in each contest. On Saturday, he established a new career high with his 33rd long ball of the season. Bruce entered Monday's action one RBI shy of tying his career high of 97. It's the second weekly award for Bruce this season and the fifth of his career, tying Eric Davis for the most all-time in franchise history.

Nolasco (12-12, 4.40 ERA) evened his record with a pair of victories. He limited Milwaukee to three runs (one earned) in seven innings last Monday. On Sunday, he tossed a complete-game shutout, yielding just four hits to the Nationals, who own baseball's best record.

Over his last three outings, Nolasco, 29, is 3-0 with a 0.36 ERA. He's averaging 8 1/3 innings per start in that span. It's his second career weekly distinction.

Bruce and Nolasco had competition from Nationals slugger Adam LaRoche, who batted .444 with five homers, Padres third baseman Chase Headley, who tallied 13 RBIs, and Braves right-hander Kris Medlen, who earned two victories after hurling a pair of quality starts.