Nationals pitcher Jordan Zimmermann is Friday's Player of the Day and rises to 17th place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Zimmermann pitched a complete-game, two-hit shutout, striking out nine, in the 8-0 win over the Marlins. Zimmermann earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 14.7 for the season.
Athletics pitcher Bartolo Colon is American League Player of the Day. Colon pitched six shutout innings, striking out eight, in the 11-0 win over the Twins. Colon earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 12.7 for the season, putting him in 33rd place in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Torii Hunter of the Tigers is AL Batter of the Day. Hunter went 4-for-5 and drove in three runs in the 12-5 win over the White Sox.
Chris Johnson of the Braves is National League Batter of the Day. Johnson homered, went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs in the 9-5 win over the Cubs.
Notables: Two other players who earned Player of the Game honors Friday are among the top 50 in Box-Toppers player rankings for the season:
- Red Sox pitcher Jon Lester rises to 30th place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game (7IP 1R 8K W in the 6-3 win vs. Blue Jays), giving him 12.7 for the season.
- Royals pitcher Ervin Santana rises to 46th place. He earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game (7.1IP 1R ND in 2-1 win vs. Rangers), giving him 10.4 for the season.
Also: Neither of the two pitchers on Box-Toppers player rankings top 10 list who started Friday earned Box-Toppers points:
- Tigers pitcher Max Scherzer (17.1 Box-Toppers points, sixth place overall, first among AL players) started against the White Sox. Though he won his 20th game, his Box-Toppers game score was -4.0 and Torii Hunter (4-5 3RBI) was Player of the Game for the Tigers.
- Pirates pitcher Francisco Liriano (16.7 Box-Toppers points, ninth place overall) started against the Reds. Though he pitched well (8IP 2R 7K), his team lost to the Reds, 6-5. He received a no-decision.
Coming Saturday: Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw is in position to take the Box-Toppers points lead Saturday as he starts against the Padres. Kershaw has 18.7 Box-Toppers points for the season, in third place overall. He trails overall leader Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals, with 19.2 Box-Toppers points.
Zimmermann receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Colon receives 1.7 for AL Player of the Day. Hunter and Johnson each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.
All of Friday'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
| 920 | Score | Team | BATTERS | AB | R | H | RBI | BB | SO | - | - | PITCHERS | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | 15.0 | Nationals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jordan Zimmermann (W, 19-8) | 9.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | ||
| 9.2 | Padres | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Robbie Erlin (W, 3-3) | 7.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | |||
| AL | 8.0 | Athletics | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bartolo Colon (W, 17-6) | 6.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 8 | ||
| 6.0 | Red Sox | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jon Lester (W, 15-8) | 7.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |||
| 6.0 | `Angels | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Matt Shoemaker | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | |||
| 4.1 | Indians | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Bryan Shaw (S, 1) | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |||
| BAT | 4.0 | Tigers | Torii Hunter RF | 5 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 3.2 | `Rays | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Jake Odorizzi | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 3.1 | `Royals | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | Ervin Santana | 7.1 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 | |||
| BAT | 3.0 | Braves | Chris Johnson 3B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 2.0 | Cardinals | Matt Adams 1B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2.0 | Mets | Daniel Murphy 2B | 5 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2.0 | Yankees | Alex Rodriguez DH | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2.0 | Rockies | Troy Tulowitzki SS | 3 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |||
| 2.0 | Reds | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | J.J. Hoover (W, 5-5) | 1.0 | 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.