Erick Aybar of the Angels shares Player of the Week award

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Erick Aybar’s record-setting Sunday, in which he went 4 for 4 with two homers, two doubles and a franchise-record five runs scored, helped earned the Angels shortstop a share of the American League’s Player of the Week honors.

Aybar shared the award with Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander, who didn’t allow a run in two starts, striking out 12 in 15 innings to raise his record to 24-5.

Aybar also drove in four runs in Sunday’s 11-2 win in Baltimore, making him the first big-leaguer since Josh Willingham in 2009 to score at least five runs while driving in at least four in the same game. But Aybar’s week lasted more than nine innings. In six games Aybar batted .455, raising his September average to .434.

The honor was the first of Aybar’s career. Verlander has won the award twice previously this season and five times in his career.

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-- Kevin Baxter, reporting from Toronto