Jon Lester shut out the Cardinals for 7 2/3 innings and led the Red Sox to a Game 1 World Series win to earn Wednesday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day honors.
Lester struck out eight, walked only one and allowed five hits in the 8-1 win. The Red Sox take a one-game-to-zero lead over the Cardinals in the best-of-seven series.
Lester had 12.7 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ranking 34th overall. He was also Player of the Game in the first game of the American League Division Series against the Rays.
Coming Thursday: The World Series resumes Thursday in Boston. Here is the pitching match-up:
World Series Game 2, Red Sox lead Cardinals 1-0
Cardinals: Michael Wacha, 3.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 361st overall. However, the rookie has earned Player of the Game honors for the Cardinals three times already this postseason (twice in the National League Championship Series), more than any other player.
Red Sox: John Lackey, 6.0 Box-Toppers points, ranked 148th overall. Lackey was Player of the Day in Game 3 of the American League Championship Series vs. the Tigers.
In
regular season games, 2.0 Box-Toppers points are awarded for Player of
the Day, 1.7 for top player in the opposite league, 1.5 for top batter
in each league and 1.0 for the top player in each of the other games.
However, no Box-Toppers points are awarded during the postseason.
Related story: Box-Toppers previews 2013 World Series in this post from Oct. 21.
Top 6 players in World Series Game 1
Here are the top six Red Sox players in Wednesday's World Series Game 1, ranked from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (how game score is calculated). Jon Lester, who had a Box-Toppers game score of 9.2 was Player of the Game (POG). David Ortiz was the highest-scoring batter, going 2-for-3 with a two-run homer, amassing a Box-Toppers game score of 4.0.
| 1023 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| POG | 9.2 | Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jon Lester (W, 1-0) | 7.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |
| 4.0 | Red Sox | David Ortiz DH | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1.1 | Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Junichi Tazawa | 0.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | |
| 1.0 | Red Sox | Dustin Pedroia 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 1.0 | Red Sox | Daniel Nava PH, LF | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| 0.0 | Red Sox | Mike Napoli 1B | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |