Giants' Bumgarner tops players for Monday, May 4; Mariners' Hernandez extends player rankings lead

Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner is Monday’s Player of the Day, while Mariners’ pitcher Felix Hernandez extends his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Bumgarner pitched 7 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out six, in the 2-0 win over the Padres. Bumgarner rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers player rankings. He earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of May 4.  


Player Pos Team BTP
1 Hernandez, Felix 2064 pi sp sea al 7.7
2 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp pit nl 6.0
3 Archer, Chris 3194 pi sp tb al 5.0
4 Cabrera, Miguel 1776 1b det al 4.7
5 Keuchel, Dallas 3050 pi sp hou al 4.7
6 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp oak al 4.7
7 Harvey, Matt 3075 pi sp nym nl 4.7
8 Stanton, Giancarlo 2737 rf fla nl 4.5
9 Cueto, Johnny 2400 pi sp cin nl 4.4
10 Bumgarner, Madison 2753 pi sp sf nl 4.0
What are those numbers after players' names?

American League Player of the Day—Mariners pitcher Felix Hernandez struck out eight over seven innings, allowing one run, in the 3-2 win over the Angels. Hernandez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 7.7 for the season, extending his lead in Box-Toppers player rankings.

Hernandez also becomes the 16th player to reach 150 career Box-Toppers points since record keeping began in 1995. He has 151.0 career Box-Toppers points, just behind Greg Maddux (151.7). Hernandez ranks 16th among all players since 1995, 12th among all pitchers and third among all active pitchers currently in the AL—behind CC Sabathia (173.3) and Johan Santana (166.6).

Hernandez had a Box-Toppers game score Monday of 6.0, the same as Rangers pitcher Ross Detwiler, who was Player of the Game in the 2-1 win over the Astros. But Hernandez won the tiebreaker to earn AL Player of the Day because he earned the win in his game while Detwiler picked up a no-decision.

National League Batter of the Day—Mark Reynolds of the Cardinals hit a grand slam and went 2-for-3 with two runs in the 10-9 win over the Cubs.

American League Batter of the Day—Jordan Schafer of the Twins  doubled and went 3-for-3 with two runs and two RBIs in the 8-7 win over the Athletics.

Debut—Brewers pitcher Michael Blazek made his Box-Toppers debut Monday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Blazek (2IP 0R 3K W in the 4-3 win over the Dodgers) made his Major League debut June 22, 2013, and was playing in his 28th career game. He is the 3,457th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Bumgarner earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Hernandez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day. Reynolds and Schafer each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Monday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

About Box-Toppers—Box-Toppers tracks who most helps their team win the most games. Using standard box score statistics, Box-Toppers uses a simple formula to determine a Player of the Game for each Major League Baseball game played. That player is the person who contributed most to his team’s win. In regular season games, players earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being named Player of the Game and can earn bonus points for being Player of the Day or top player or batter in their league for the day.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

5/4 Score Team Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
MLB 10.1 Giants Madison Bumgarner (W, 3-1) - - - - - - 7.1 2 0 0 1 6
AL 6.0 Mariners Felix Hernandez (W, 5-0) - - - - - - 7.0 6 1 1 1 8
6.0 `Rangers Ross Detwiler - - - - - - 7.0 4 1 1 2 7
BAT 5.0 Cardinals Mark Reynolds 1B 3 2 2 4 1 0 - - - - - -
BAT 4.0 Twins Jordan Schafer CF 3 2 3 2 1 0 - - - - - -
4.0 Rays Jake Odorizzi (W, 3-2) - - - - - - 7.0 7 1 1 0 6
3.0 Nationals Yunel Escobar 3B 5 1 5 2 0 0 - - - - - -
3.0 Brewers Michael Blazek (W, 2-0) - - - - - - 2.0 0 0 0 2 3
2.0 Phillies Jeff Francoeur RF 5 1 4 2 0 0 - - - - - -
2.0 Blue Jays Brett Cecil (S, 2) - - - - - - 1.0 0 0 0 0 1
`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.