Tanaka, part of Yankees' combined no-hitter, tops players in Friday, March 17's spring games

Yankees pitcher Masahiro Tanaka is Friday’s Box-Toppers spring training Player of the Day.

Box-Toppers is tracking several days of spring training during 2017 as a sort of a test and demonstration of the Box-Toppers player tracking metric. Even after 22 seasons of tracking (including sharing those results for the past four seasons on Box-Toppers.com), we need to spend a little time shagging ground balls and getting in shape for the 2,430 games to be tracked during the regular season.

Tanaka, along with two other Yankees pitchers, no-hit the Tigers, 3-0. Tananka struck out six over 4 1/3 innings, allowing no hits or runs.

In 2016, Tanaka had 14.1 Box-Toppers points, fifth among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day—Wilmer Flores of the Mets hit a grand slam and doubled, going 2-for-2 and driving in six total runs, in the 16-2 win over the Cardinals. Flores had 4.5 Box-Toppers points in 2016.

American League Batter of the Day—Darrell Ceciliani of the Blue Jays hit a grand slam and tripled, going 2-for-4 and driving in five total runs, in the 7-5 win over the Phillies. Ceciliani has yet to make his Box-Toppers debut by earning Player of the Game honors during the regular season.

National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Wilmer Flores.

Scoring—No Box-Toppers points are awarded in spring training games, but if it were the regular season, Tanaka would earn 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, Flores would earn 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day and Ceciliani would earn 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) would earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Note—Eighteen spring training games were scheduled for Friday—17 are listed below. One game is not listed (Nationals 5, Marlins 5) because it ended in a tie. World Baseball Classic games are also not included.

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.

Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

3/17	Score	Game	Player	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.1	NYY 3, DET 0	Masahiro Tanaka (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-		4.1	0	0	0	2	6
NL	7.0	NYM 16, STL 2	Wilmer Flores 3B	2	1	2	6		-	-	-	-	-	-
	6.0	MIN 4, TB 2	Phil Hughes (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	1	4
	6.0	HOU 6, BOS 2	Francis Martes (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-		3.0	0	0	0	0	3
	5.0	CHC 7, CHW 3	Kyle Schwarber RF	3	2	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	`SD 3, LAD 2	Christian Friedrich	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	3
BAT	4.0	TOR 7, PHI 5	Darrell Ceciliani RF	4	1	2	5		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	SEA 8, ARI 5	Ron Casteel 1B	2	1	1	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	TEX 6, LAA 5	Ronald Guzman 1B	1	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	CLE 3, TEX 2	Danny Salazar (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	2	2	2	9
	4.0	SEA 5, LAD 2	Max Povse (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-		4.0	3	0	0	0	3
	4.0	COL 5, SF 1	Harrison Musgrave (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-		3.0	1	0	0	0	2
	4.0	ARI 3, OAK 2	Zack Godley (S, 1)	-	-	-	-		2.0	1	0	0	0	3
	4.0	CIN 7, CLE 3	Wandy Peralta (W, 1-0)	-	-	-	-		2.0	0	0	0	0	2
	3.0	KC 8, MIL 5	Christian Colón 2B	2	2	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	`HOU 5, ATL 4	Dallas Keuchel	-	-	-	-		4.0	3	0	0	0	2
	2.1	BAL 8, PIT 6	Scott McGough (S, 1)	-	-	-	-		1.1	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.

Angels' Hector Santiago tops players for Thursday, July 7; Padres' Drew Pomeranz rises to 10th in Box-Toppers rankings

Angels pitcher Hector Santiago is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 7:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	13.4
3	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	13.4
4	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	12.0
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	10.8
6	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	10.7
7	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.7
8	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	10.5
9	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	10.4
10	Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi sp	sd nl	10.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Thursday, Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz rises to 10th place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Day—Santiago pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out nine and allowing three hits and four walks, in the 5-1 win over the Rays.

National League Player of the Day—Padres pitcher Drew Pomeranz pitched seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, striking out six, in the 6-0 win over the Dodgers.

Pomeranz earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 10.4 for the season, rising to 10th place among all players. He ranks sixth among NL pitchers. Pomeranz also becomes the 11th player this season with 10 or more Box-Toppers points.

Four pitchers among Thursday’s Players of the Game were tied for highest Box-Toppers game score of the day (+9.0)—Santiago, Pomeranz, plus Athletics pitcher Rich Hill and Twins pitcher Tyler Duffey. Santiago and Pomeranz ranked ahead of Hill and Duffey because they had more innings pitched (7 vs. 6). Santiago ranked ahead of Pomeranz to earn overall Player of the Day honors because he had more strikeouts (9 vs. 6).

National League Batter of the Day—Trevor Story of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 11-2 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Salvador Perez of the Royals hit a ninth-inning, walk-off, two-run double in the 4-3 win over the Mariners. Perez went 3-for-4, scoring once.

Notable—Wilmer Flores of the Mets has earned Box-Toppers points two days in a row and three times in the past five days after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Flores (HR 1-2 R 3BI in the 9-7 win Thursday over the Nationals) was also Player of the Game Wednesday and was NL Batter of the Day in the Mets’ win Sunday, July 3. Flores has 3.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, all earned in the past five days.

Also notable—Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright now has 107.3 career Box-Toppers points—57th-most among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began—after earning Player of the Game honors Thursday.

Wainwright (7IP 5H R BB 9K W in the 5-1 win over the Pirates) now trails 56th-ranked player on the “all-time” list, Lance Berkman (108.1). Wainwright has 5.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 25th among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Santiago earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Pomeranz earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Story and Perez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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.

Note—Friday’s usual Box-Toppers team power rankings report and player rankings report will be delayed until the All-Star break on Monday. 

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

7/7	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	9.0	LAA 5/TB 1	Hector Santiago (W,6-4)	-	-	-	-		7.0	3	0	0	4	9
NL	9.0	SD 6/LAD 0	Drew Pomeranz (W,8-7)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	0	0	2	6
	9.0	OAK 3/HOU 1	Rich Hill (W,9-3)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	2	10
	9.0	MIN 10/TEX 1	Tyler Duffey (W,5-6)	-	-	-	-		6.0	2	0	0	4	9
	8.0	STL 5/PIT 1	Adam Wainwright (W,8-5)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	1	1	1	9
BAT	6.0	COL 11/PHI 2	Trevor Story, SS	3	3	2	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.2	`ATL 4/CHC 3	Lucas Harrell	-	-	-	-		7.2	4	1	1	2	5
	3.0	NYM 9/DC 7	Wilmer Flores, 1B-3B	2	1	1	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	2.0	KC 4/SEA 3	Salvador Perez, C	4	1	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	TOR 5/DET 4	Michael Saunders, LF	4	3	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	NYY 5/CLE 4	Chase Headley, 3B	3	2	2	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi sp	sd nl	10.4	13.4	21.4	21.4	7.4
Hill, Rich 2215	pi sp	oak al	9.4	13.4	13.4	33.1	5.4
Santiago, Hector 3109	pi sp	ana al	8.4	16.4	28.8	28.8	0.4
Wainwright, Adam 2150	pi sp	stl nl	5.5	8.5	56.6	107.3	2.5
Saunders, Michael 2768	lf	tor al	4.2	4.2	13.9	14.9	4.2
Perez, Salvador 2972	ca	kc al	4.0	8.5	21.7	21.7	-0.5
Duffey, Tyler 3558	pi sp	min al	4.0	8.0	8.0	8.0	0.0
Story, Trevor 3607	ss	col nl	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	4.0
Flores, Wilmer 3345	3b 1b	nym nl	3.5	6.0	8.5	8.5	1.0
Headley, Chase 2552	3b	nyy al	3.5	5.5	17.0	27.5	1.5
Harrell, Lucas 2988	pi sp	atl nl	2.0	2.0	6.7	6.7	2.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Blue Jays' Happ tops players for Sunday, July 3; Dodgers' McCarthy tops NL players

Blue Jays pitcher J.A. Happ is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2016 season as of July 3:  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	20.0
2	Fernandez, Jose 3147	pi sp	fla nl	13.4
3	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	12.0
4	Cueto, Johnny 2400	pi sp	sf nl	11.7
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	10.8
6	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	10.7
7	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	10.7
8	Salazar, Danny 3223	pi sp	cle al	10.5
9	Hamels, Cole 2135	pi sp	tex al	10.4
10	Syndergaard, Noah 3472	pi sp	nym nl	10.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Happ struck out 11 over seven innings, allowing one run, five hits and no walks, in the 17-1 win over the Indians.

National League Player of the Day—Dodgers pitcher Brandon McCarthy pitched five scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing two hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rockies.

National League Batter of the Day—Wilmer Flores of the Mets hit two homers and went 6-for-6, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 14–3 win over the Cubs.

American League Batter of the Day—Sandy Leon of the Red Sox homered and went 2-for-4, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 10-5 win over the Angels.

This was Leon’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Leon made his Major League debut May 14, 2012, and was playing in his 89th career game. He is the 3,676th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Notable—Seth Smith of the Mariners earned Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Sunday.

Smith (grand slam 1-4 in the 9-4 win over the Orioles) was also Player of the Game Saturday in the Mariners 12-6 win over the Orioles.

Also notable—Nationals pitcher Stephen Strasburg has the most 2016 Box-Toppers points of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.

Strasburg (6.2 IP 0H 0R 4BB 5K W in the 12-1 win over the Reds) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.4 for the season, 13th among all players, ninth among NL pitchers.

Debuts—In addition to Leon, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in their careers they earned Player of the Game honors:

• Yankees pitcher Chad Green (6IP 3H R 8K W in the 6-3 win over the Padres) made his Major League debut May 16 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,675th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
• Giants pitcher Josh Osich (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K W in the 5-4 win over the Diamondbacks) made his Major League debut July 3, 2015, and was playing in his 76th career game. He is the 3,677th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.

Scoring—Happ earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and McCarthy earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Flores and Leon each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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

7/3	Score	Game	Player of Game	AB	R	H	BI		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	11.0	TOR 17/CLE 1	J.A. Happ (W,11-3)	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	1	1	0	11
NL	10.0	LAD 4/COL 1	Brandon McCarthy (W,1-0)	-	-	-	-		5.0	2	0	0	1	8
	9.0	NYY 6/SD 3	Chad Green (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	1	1	0	8
	7.2	DC 12/CIN 1	Stephen Strasburg (W,11-0)	-	-	-	-		6.2	0	0	0	4	5
BAT	7.0	NYM 14/CHC 3	Wilmer Flores, 3B	6	3	6	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	STL 9/MIL 8	Stephen Piscotty, RF	4	2	3	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	5.0	CHW 4/HOU 1	Jose Quintana (W,6-8)	-	-	-	-		7.0	2	1	1	2	4
	3.0	MIA 5/ATL 2	J.T. Realmuto, C	5	3	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	PHI 7/KC 2	Maikel Franco, 3B	4	2	3	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	3.0	BOS 10/LAA 5	Sandy Leon, C	4	2	2	3		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	PIT 6/OAK 3	David Freese, 1B	1	1	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	DET 5/TB 1	Ian Kinsler, 2B	4	2	2	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SEA 9/BAL 4	Seth Smith, LF	4	1	1	4		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	MIN 5/TEX 4	Brian Dozier, 2B	3	2	1	2		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	SF 5/ARI 4	Josh Osich (W,1-1)	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	1

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (16). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (15-16), the period 2011-2016 (11-16) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2016 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2015 total (+/-).  

Player of Game	Pos	Team	16	15-16	11-16	Career	+/-
Strasburg, Stephen 2736	pi sp	dc nl	9.4	23.4	69.5	77.2	-4.6
Quintana, Jose 3040	pi sp	chi al	6.7	12.7	31.5	31.5	0.7
Happ, J.A. 2536	pi sp	tor al	6.0	19.1	34.5	42.5	-7.1
Kinsler, Ian 2144	2b	det al	4.5	11.0	30.2	60.6	-2.0
Realmuto, J.T. 3491	ca	fla nl	3.5	8.5	8.5	8.5	-1.5
Piscotty, Stephen 3570	rf	stl nl	3.0	7.2	7.2	7.2	-1.2
Smith, Seth 2489	rf lf	sea al	3.0	4.0	22.0	36.2	2.0
McCarthy, Brandon 2082	pi sp	lad nl	1.7	3.7	26.8	35.5	-0.3
Flores, Wilmer 3345	3b ss 2b	nym nl	1.5	4.0	6.5	6.5	-1.0
Leon, Sandy 3676	ca	bos al	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.5
Dozier, Brian 3219	2b	min al	1.0	4.7	12.7	12.7	-2.7
Franco, Maikel 3510	3b	phi nl	1.0	4.2	4.2	4.2	-2.2
Freese, David 2710	1b 3b	pit nl	1.0	1.0	21.2	23.2	1.0
Green, Chad 3675	pi sp	nyy al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0
Osich, Josh 3677	pi mr	sf nl	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0

What are those numbers after players' names?

Yankees' Nathan Eovaldi (8IP 0R 7K) tops players for Monday, Aug. 24

(Other duties have put us behind updating Box-Toppers. Playing catch up …)

Yankees pitcher Nathan Eovaldi is Box-Toppers Player of the Day for Monday, Aug. 24.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 24.  

	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	deGrom, Jacob 3343	pi sp	nym nl	19.4
2	Price, David 2593	pi sp	tor al	17.1
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	chi al	17.1
4	Kershaw, Clayton 2494	pi sp	lad nl	16.7
5	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	16.0
6	Greinke, Zack 1871	pi sp	lad nl	16.0
7	Gray, Sonny 3259	pi sp	oak al	15.8
8	Hernandez, Felix 2064	pi sp	sea al	15.4
9	Arrieta, Jake 2738	pi sp	chi nl	15.4
10	Harvey, Matt 3075	pi sp	nym nl	15.4

What are those numbers after players' names?

Also Monday, Cubs pitcher Jon Lester earned Player of the Game honors, giving him 118.1 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 38th place among all players since 1995.

Player of the Day—Eovaldi pitched eight scoreless innings, striking out seven and allowing four hits, in the 1-0 win over the Astros. Eovaldi picked up a no-decision and did not earn the win because he exited with the game tied 0-0.

National League Player of the Day—Pirates pitcher J.A. Happ pitched six scoreless innings, striking out six and allowing four hits, in the 5-2 win over the Marlins.

National League Batter of the Day—Wilmer Flores of the Mets homered twice, doubled and went 3-for-6, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 16-7 win over the Phillies.

American League Batter of the Day—Rusney Castillo of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer and a two-run double and went 3-for-4 in the 5-4 win over the White Sox.

Notable—Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rose to 38th among all players since 1995 (when Box-Toppers record keeping began) after earning Player of the Game honors Monday.

Lester (8IP 4H 0R 6K ND in the 2-1 win over the Indians) earned 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 118.1 for his career. With his point Monday, he passed two players on Box-Toppers’ “all-time” list—Barry Zito (117.4) and Carlos Delgado (117.7). He trails 37th-place player Cliff Lee (119.1).

Lester also had the highest Box-Toppers season player ranking of any of the 10 who earned Player of the Game honors Monday. Lester has 9.0 Box-Toppers points for the season and ranks 33rd among all players on the season, 15th among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Eovaldi earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Happ earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Flores and Castillo 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

8/24	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	8.0	`Yankees	Nathan Eovaldi	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	4	0	0	3	7
NL	7.0	Pirates	J.A. Happ (W,6-7)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	4	0	0	1	6
	5.2	`Cubs	Jon Lester	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	6	1	1	1	6
BAT	5.0	Mets	Wilmer Flores, 2B	6	3	3	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	5.0	Red Sox	Rusney Castillo, RF	4	1	3	5	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Reds	Eugenio Suarez, SS	5	3	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Athletics	Josh Reddick, RF	5	2	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Braves	Jonny Gomes, LF	4	1	2	3	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Royals	Omar Infante, 2B	4	1	2	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	0.0	Cardinals	Matt Carpenter, 3B	4	2	1	1	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
		`Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.

Indians' Kluber passes Scherzer for Box-Toppers lead among AL pitchers; Cubs' Arrieta tops players for Tuesday, Sept. 16

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber, Tuesday’s American League Player of the Day, takes the season lead among AL pitchers in Box-Toppers points.

Kluber passes Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer, who had led AL pitchers since July 3. Kluber earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 22.1 for the season. Scherzer has 21.1.

Kluber struck out 14 over seven innings, allowing one run, in the 4-2 win over the Astros. He ranks third among players in Box-Toppers points. (See the updated top 10 player list on the home page.)

Meanwhile, Cubs pitcher Jake Arrieta is Tuesday’s Player of the Day. Arrieta pitched a complete game, one-hit shutout, striking out 13 and allowing just one walk, in the 7-0 win over the Reds.

Arrieta earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 13.7 for the season. He ranks 18th among all players and seventh among National League pitchers.

Wilmer Flores of the Mets is NL Batter of the Day. Flores homered twice and went 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in six runs, in the 9-1 win over the Marlins.

Mike Zunino of the Mariners is AL Batter of the Day. Zunino doubled and went 2-for-3, scoring twice and driving in two runs, in the 13-2 win over the Angels.

Notable: Nationals pitcher Tanner Roark became the 50th player with 10.0 or more Box-Toppers points this season after earning Player of the Game honors Tuesday. Roark (7IP 0R W in the 3-0 win over the Braves) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.0 for the season. He ranks 50th among all players and 22nd among NL pitchers.

Arrieta receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Kluber receives 1.7 for AL Player of the Day. Flores and Zunino each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.

All of Tuesday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

Box-Toppers watches the daily performances of selected star players and Box-Toppers points leaders. To see how they performed, click here.

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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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

916	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	20.0	Cubs	Jake Arrieta (W, 9-5)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	1	0	0	1	13
AL	10.0	Indians	Corey Kluber (W, 16-9)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	7	1	1	2	14
BAT	8.0	Mets	Wilmer Flores 2B	4	3	3	6	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	7.0	`Twins	Ricky Nolasco	-	-	-	-	-	-		8.0	5	0	0	1	5
	6.0	Nationals	Tanner Roark (W, 14-10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	5	0	0	0	4
	5.0	Pirates	Charlie Morton (W, 6-12)	-	-	-	-	-	-		5.0	4	0	0	2	6
	4.0	Rockies	Corey Dickerson LF	4	2	2	4	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.2	Giants	Jake Peavy (W, 6-4)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.2	5	1	1	1	4
BAT	3.0	Mariners	Mike Zunino C	3	2	2	2	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Padres	Alexi Amarista SS	4	1	3	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Orioles	Jimmy Paredes 3B	3	2	2	1	0	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	Rays	Wil Myers PH, RF	0	0	0	2	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	White Sox	Eric Surkamp (W, 2-0)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	1	2
	1.0	Brewers	Hector Gomez PR, 3B, 2B	2	1	1	1	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	1.0	Rangers	Neftali Feliz (S, 10)	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	0	0	0	0	0

` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.