Patrick Mullins celebrates one of his four goals against San Jose. (Brad Mills/USA TODAY Sports)

NEW YORK – It is no surprise that Patrick Mullins was named Major League Soccer player of the week by the North American Soccer Reporters Tuesday.

After all, the D.C. United forward Patrick Mullins scored a career-high four goals in a 4-0 win over the San Jose Earthquakes at RFK Stadium Saturday.

The American striker was the 11th player in MLS history to score four goals in a game, accomplishing the feat in only 31 minutes, the shortest span in league history. D.C. (9-17-4) has earned 31 points this season after winning four of its previous six matches.

A former forward at New York City FC, Mullins opened the scoring in the 57th minute with a perfect one-touch finish in front of goal. Only three minutes later, Mullins made a late run into the box and headed a chipped ball in to the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

In the 68th minute, Mullins found goalkeeper Andrew Tarbell’s deflection in the box and buried it home to give D.C. a 3-0 advantage. He added to his total in 88th minute with D.C. receiving a free kick right outside the box. The striker stepped up and smashed the ball around the wall of defenders and past the goalkeeper’s outstretched hands.

United visits the Red Bulls at Red Bull Arena Wednesday (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE) before taking on Columbus Crew SC at MAPFRE Stadium Saturday (7:30 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE).

The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season by a panel of journalists from NASR. The group consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.