New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Johan Santana was named the American League player of the week Monday for his efforts during the period ending on September 19.

Santana went 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA and a league-high 21 strikeouts in two starts. He tossed 15 scoreless innings, allowing only nine hits and walking one.

The lefthander struck out a career-high 14 in Sunday's 5-1 win over the Baltimore Orioles and moved the Twins magic number to clinch the AL Central to two games. The 25-year-old native of Venezuela has an AL-high 254 strikeouts, which is the second most ever by a Twins pitcher behind Bert Blyleven's 258 in 1973.

Santana, the AL Pitcher of the Month for July and August, has not given up a run in four September starts. His streak of consecutive scoreless innings now stands at 30.

Other candidates for the weekly award were Baltimore's Jay Gibbons and Larry Bigbie; Dmitri Young and Omar Infante of the Tigers; New York's Alex Rodriguez and last week's winner Derek Jeter. The other pitchers on this week's ballot were New York's Mike Mussina and Seattle's Ryan Franklin.