Corey Kluber tops players for 2nd time in World Series, as Indians take 3-1 series lead

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in World Series Game 4 Saturday.

The Cleveland Indians win 7-2 to take a 3-1 lead over the Chicago Cubs in the best-of-seven game series.

Kluber allowed one run over six innings, allowing five hits, one walk, striking out six and earning the win. Kluber had the highest Box-Toppers game score of all Indians players, +4.0.

This is the second time this World Series Kluber has been Box-Toppers Player of the Game—he was also top player in his Game 1 start. This was the fourth time this postseason Kluber has earned Player of the Game honors, most of any player. In addition to his two top player honors in the World Series, he was Player of the Game in AL Division Series Game 2 vs. the Red Sox and AL Championship Series Game 1 vs. the Blue Jays.

During the regular season Kluber had 21.2 Box-Toppers points, fifth among all players and first among AL pitchers.

Second baseman Jason Kipnis had the second-highest Box-Toppers game score (+3.0) among Indians players (three-run HR, 2B 3-5 2R 3BI).

Opposing starting pitcher John Lackey of the Cubs had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 (5IP 4H 3R BB 5K L).

The Indians could wrap up the championship as the World Series resumes Sunday in Chicago.

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.

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Top Indians in World Series Game 4: Indians 7, Cubs 2

Here are the Box-Toppers game scores of all Indians who played in World Series Game 4 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score.

BTG Player AB R H BI BB K IP H R ER BB K
4.0 * Corey Kluber (W,4-1) - - - - - - 6.0 5 1 1 1 6
3.0 Jason Kipnis, 2B 5 2 3 3 0 1 - - - - - -
1.0 Carlos Santana, 1B 4 1 3 1 0 1 - - - - - -
1.0 c-Coco Crisp, PH 1 1 1 0 0 0 - - - - - -
1.0 Andrew Miller - - - - - - 2.0 1 1 1 0 2
0.0 Francisco Lindor, SS 4 1 2 1 1 1 - - - - - -
0.0 Dan Otero - - - - - - 1.0 1 0 0 0 0
0.0 Andrew Miller, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
0.0 Dan Otero, P 0 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-1.0 Lonnie Chisenhall, RF 3 1 0 1 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Corey Kluber, P 2 0 1 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 a-Michael Martinez, PH 1 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Tyler Naquin, CF 1 0 0 0 1 1 - - - - - -
-1.0 Mike Napoli, 1B 1 0 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-2.0 b-Brandon Guyer, PH-LF 2 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
-3.0 Rajai Davis, LF-CF 4 1 0 0 0 0 - - - - - -
-3.0 Roberto Perez, C 3 0 0 0 1 1 - - - - - -
-5.0 Jose Ramirez, 3B 5 0 0 0 0 1 - - - - - -
* Player of the Game
BTG: Box-Toppers game score

Coming Sunday in Chicago:

World Series Game 5, Indians lead Cubs in series, 3-1

The pitching matchup Sunday:

Indians—Trevor Bauer, 11.4 Box-Toppers points, 34th among all players, 12th among AL pitchers.

Cubs—Jon Lester, 22.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked fourth among all players, third among NL pitchers.

On paper, the Cubs looked to dominate the depleted, injury-riddled Indians in this World Series. But so far, the Indians have prevailed with their patched-together pitching rotation.

But now, the Indians ace Kluber has pitched and won two games and will wait for an if-necessary Game 7. The Cubs dominant starter Lester is back for Game 5 and if the Cubs can win, Game 2-winner Jake Arrieta is likely for Game 6. Aside from Kluber, the Indians can’t match those starters. Though the Cubs are down, they have to feel good about their chances in the next two games. And if it goes that far, they have to hope that Kluber finally feels some of the fatigue on short rest in Game 7 that he seemed to fail to feel on his Saturday short-rest win in Game 4.

Box-Toppers World Series preview

Box-Toppers 2016 final team rankings

Box-Toppers 2016 final top 10 player rankings

Box-Toppers point totals of all Cubs players active at season’s end

Box-Toppers point totals of all Indians players active at season’s end

Box-Toppers ALCS Preview

Box-Toppers NLCS Preview

Game 4 narrative via Box-Toppers Twitter feed

Here are real-time tweets from Box-Toppers Wednesday as World Series Game 4 progressed: