Different corners of the diamond, similar levels of excellence at the plate.Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt were honored by Major League Baseball as the American and National League's Players of the Month on Monday after powering their clubs to two of the game's best

Different corners of the diamond, similar levels of excellence at the plate.

Astros third baseman Alex Bregman and D-backs first baseman Paul Goldschmidt were honored by Major League Baseball as the American and National League's Players of the Month on Monday after powering their clubs to two of the game's best records in June. It's the first Player of the Month Award for both Bregman and Goldschmidt, who follows teammate A.J. Pollock (March/April) as the second D-backs player to claim the honor in 2018.

• Past winners

June was just another step for Bregman in his star progression that first began in full during the Astros' march to the 2017 World Series title. Houston's third baseman tied Nelson Cruz for the Major League lead with 11 home runs, and he tied teammate Evan Gattis with an AL-best 30 RBIs last month while placing right behind Cruz in the AL with a .713 slugging percentage and compiling a sterling 1.085 OPS. Bregman logged seven multihit games in June, including a 9-for-14 performance with three homers during the Astros' series against the Blue Jays from June 25-27.

Meanwhile, Goldschmidt's uncharacteristically cold start to the 2018 season now seems like a distant memory after an incredible June in which he led all qualified players with a .364 average, .738 slugging percentage and 1.199 OPS. Goldschmidt logged eight multihit games and seven games with multiple runs driven in last month while raising his season OPS for the year from .719 to .889.

Thanks in large part to the performances of Bregman and Goldschmidt, the Astros and D-backs both pushed forward with 19 wins in the month of June.