Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is Thursday’s Player of the Day.
Bauer pitched six no-hit, shutout innings and struck out 11 in the 5-1 win over the Astros. The Indians bid for a combined no-hitter among four pitchers ended in the ninth inning when reliever Nick Hagadone gave up the only hit to the Astros, a home run by Jed Lowrie.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 9. As it is less than one week into the season, the sample size is pretty small and no player has earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors more than once. Five players are tied with 2.0 Box-Toppers points, each of them have been Player of the Day for each of the first five days of the season. Felix Hernandez is ranked first by virtue of having more Box-Toppers in 2014 than the other four—he had 20.8 in 2014, Adam Wainwright, ranked second, had 18.7.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 2.0 |
| 2 | Wainwright, Adam 2150 | pi sp | stl nl | 2.0 |
| 3 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 2.0 |
| 4 | Wilson, C.J. 2074 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 |
| 5 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 2.0 |
| 6 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.7 |
| 7 | Harang, Aaron 1599 | pi sp | phi nl | 1.7 |
| 8 | Peralta, David 3370 | lf | ari nl | 1.7 |
| 9 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 1.7 |
| 10 | Encarnacion, Edwin 2098 | dh 1b | tor al | 1.5 |
National League Player of the Day—Mets pitcher Matt Harvey, in his first start since August 2013, pitched six scoreless innings and struck out nine in the 6-3 win over the Nationals. Harvey had 15.0 Box-Toppers points in 2013 before undergoing Tommy John surgery and ended that season ranked 10th among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—Edwin Encarnacion of the Blue Jays homered and went 2-for-4 in the 6-3 win over the Yankees.
National League Batter of the Day—There was no NL Batter of the Day Thursday because no NL batters earned Player of the Game honors.
Scoring—Bauer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Harvey earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Encarnacion earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) earn 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 409 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 12.0 | Indians | Trevor Bauer (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 11 | |
| NL | 10.0 | Mets | Matt Harvey (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| 7.0 | Tigers | Shane Greene (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | Royals | Edinson Volquez (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| 6.0 | Rangers | Nick Martinez (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 5 | ||
| 4.0 | Red Sox | Justin Masterson (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 3.0 | Reds | Aroldis Chapman (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 2.2 | Giants | George Kontos (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| BAT | 1.0 | Blue Jays | Edwin Encarnacion DH | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |