Tigers pitcher Anibal Sanchez, who gave up no hits over six innings and struck out 12, is Saturday's Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Sanchez led the Tigers to a 1-0 win over the Red Sox in Game 1 of the best-of-seven American League Championship Series. Five Tigers pitchers combined to give up only one Red Sox hit—and that came with one out in the ninth inning.
Sanchez threw 116 pitches over six innings, walking six batters. Sanchez had 17.1 Box-Toppers points during the regular season, ranked seventh overall.
Meanwhile, Cardinals pitcher Michael Wacha is Box-Toppers National League Player of the Day, pitching 6 2/3 shutout innings and striking out eight in the 1-0 win over the Dodgers. The Cardinals now have a two games to zero lead over the Dodgers in the best-of-seven National League Championship Series.
Wacha had 3.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, ranked 361st overall. It is the second time this postseason Wacha has earned Player of the Game honors. He was also Player of the Day Oct. 7 in Game 4 of the NL Division Series against the Pirates. (If Box-Toppers points were kept during the postseason, Wacha would have 3.7 points in the past two games, more than his entire regular season total.) Wacha outdueled Dodgers starter Clayton Kershaw, who with 21.7 Box-Toppers points, was top player for the season.
Pitchers naturally dominated Box-Toppers game scores in Saturday's two LCS games since the minimum possible number of runs were scored in both games—both games were 1-0 shutouts.
Coming Sunday: The American League Championship Series continues with Game 2 in Boston. Here is the pitching match-up:
ALCS Game 2, Tigers lead Red Sox 1-0
Tigers: Max Scherzer, 18.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked fifth overall (see the Top 10 Player ranking list on the home page)
Red Sox: Clay Buchholz, 11.1 Box-Toppers points, ranked 41st overall
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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 1012 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 12.0 | Tigers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Anibal Sanchez (W, 1-1) | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 12 | |
| NL | 8.2 | Cardinals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Michael Wacha (W, 2-0) | 6.2 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 |