Red Sox pitcher John Lackey is Thursday's Player of the Day. Lackey, who gave up his first hit in the seventh inning, pitched a complete-game two-hitter, striking out eight, in the 3-1 win over the Orioles, clinching a playoff spot for Boston.
Pirates pitcher Gerrit Cole is National League Player of the Day. Cole struck out 12 over six innings in the 10-1 win over the Padres.
Hanley Ramirez of the Dodgers is NL Batter of the Day. Ramirez homered twice, drove in four runs and went 4-for-5 in the 7-6 win over the Diamondbacks, as Los Angeles won the NL West title.
Prince Fielder of the Tigers is American League Batter of the Day. Fielder went 3-for-4 in the 5-4 win over the Mariners.
Notables: Two other players who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday are among the top 25 in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season:
- Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner rises to 13th place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game (7IP 1R 10K W in the 2-1 win vs. Mets), giving him 15.7 for the season.
- Indians pitcher Ubaldo Jimenez rises to 25th place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game (7IP 1R 9K ND in 2-1 win vs. Astros), giving him 12.8 for the season.
Coming Friday: Two pitchers among the top 10 in Box-Toppers player rankings (see the list on the home page) are scheduled to start Friday:
- Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer starts against the White Sox. Scherzer has 17.1 Box-Toppers points, is in sixth place overall and leads all AL players.
- Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano starts against the Reds. Liriano has 16.7 Box-Toppers points and is in ninth place overall.
Neither Scherzer nor Liriano is in position Friday to take the outright lead in Box-Toppers points (held by Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright with 19.2) since the most they could earn is 2.0 Box-Toppers points.
Lackey receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Cole receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Ramirez and Fielder each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.
All of Thursday's other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 919 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 11.0 | Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | John Lackey (W, 10-12) | 9.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| NL | 9.0 | Pirates | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Gerrit Cole (W, 9-7) | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 12 | ||
| 8.0 | Giants | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Madison Bumgarner (W, 13-9) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 10 | |||
| 8.0 | `Indians | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ubaldo Jimenez | 7.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |||
| 7.0 | Blue Jays | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Todd Redmond (W, 4-2) | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | |||
| 6.0 | Cubs | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jake Arrieta (W, 3-2) | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | |||
| BAT | 5.0 | Dodgers | Hanley Ramirez SS | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 5.0 | `Rockies | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Wilton Lopez | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| 3.0 | Nationals | Bryce Harper LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| BAT | 2.0 | Tigers | Prince Fielder 1B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2.0 | Athletics | Coco Crisp CF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 1.0 | Rangers | Elvis Andrus SS | 6 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 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.