Baltimore Orioles player of the week: A grand finale seals the deal

Another successful week has come to a close for the Baltimore Orioles. An offensive awakening saw them score five runs or more in six out of their seven games and go 5-2 against two divisional foes. While several hitters had standout weeks, only one could be named the player of the week.

Last weeks recipient, Ryan Mountcastle, continued to mash the ball all week long. He put up solid numbers highlighted by his second two-homer game of June. He finished the week with three runs, three home runs and eight RBI. It was a strong week that earned him a legitimate chance of repeating as player of the week, but he fell a bit short.

Anthony Santander made a strong push to win his first player of the week honors with his best week of the season. Santander had at least one hit in six of the seven games this week, and the accompanying power surge reminded all Orioles fans just how much we love him. Tony has 'tatered' every other game this month and finished the week going 8-for-27 with three runs, two doubles, four home runs and six RBI. In most weeks, that would be enough to take home the honors, but even this performance was outshined this week.

A grand performance was needed to outdo Santander and a grand performance was delivered. Adley Rutschman was on another level this week. Like Santander, Rutschman also had at least one hit in six of the team's seven games, with three of those games being multi-hit performances. He took a lead in the player of the week race on June 6 with a two-homer performance that landed him on an exclusive list. Rutschman became just the seventh player in Orioles history to have switch-hit home runs in the same game, joining Don Buford, Eddie Murray, Mickey Tettleton, Roberto Alomar, Matt Wieters and Santander. It's power we all saw during his unique home run derby performance last year.

Baltimore Orioles player of the week: Adley Rutschman

Even with that historic performance, Rutschman needed something big to surpass Santander's accomplishments this week. Notably, he saved his best for the last game of the week.

In the third game of the series at the Trop, Rutschman had three hits, all of which came with runners in scoring position. The highlight of the game was Rutschman's grand slam in the eighth that put the game against the Tampa Bay Rays out of reach. Rutschman went 3-for-5 with six RBI in Sunday's game alone. For the week, he went 10-31 with five runs, three homers and 11 RBI, and earns his second player of the week honors.