Indians pitcher Carlos Carrasco, who was one strike away from a no-hitter, is Wednesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Wednesday, Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle and Cubs pitcher Jon Lester earned Player of the Game honors and rose in Box-Toppers “all-time” top 50 player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of July 1.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 14.0 |
| 2 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 13.4 |
| 3 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 12.0 |
| 4 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 12.0 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 11.4 |
| 6 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 11.4 |
| 7 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | det al | 11.1 |
| 8 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 10.7 |
| 9 | Martinez, Carlos 3371 | pi sp | stl nl | 10.7 |
| 10 | Harvey, Matt 3075 | pi sp | nym nl | 9.7 |
Player of the Day—Carrasco struck out 13 over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one hit and one run, in the 8-1 win over the Rays. Carrasco had a no-hitter with two outs in the ninth inning before allowing his first hit to Joey Butler, who was down to his final strike.
Carrasco also has the highest Box-Toppers player ranking of any of the 15 who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday. Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 8.0 for the season and is ranked 16th among all players. He ranks eighth among American League pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto struck out eight over eight innings, allowing one run, in the 2-1 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—Neil Walker of the Pirates hit two homers and went 4-for-6, scoring three times and driving in three runs, in the 9-3 win over the Tigers.
American League Batter of the Day—Jose Altuve of the Astros went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in a run, in the 6-5 win over the Royals.
Notables—Two pitchers who earned Player of the Game honors Wednesday rose in Box-Toppers “all-time” player rankings top 50:
- Blue Jays pitcher Mark Buehrle rose to 40th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995. Buehrle (7IP 4H R 7K W in the 11-2 win over the Red Sox) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and now has 116.7 career Box-Toppers points. He passes Todd Helton (116.4) on the “all-time” list and now trails 39th-place player Barry Zito (117.4).
- Cubs pitcher Jon Lester rose to 45th place in Box-Toppers points among all players since Box-Toppers record keeping began in 1995. Lester (7IP 5H 0R 7K ND in the 2-0 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point and now has 114.1 for his career. He passes Sammy Sosa (113.2) and Chris Carpenter (113.3) on the “all-time” list and now trails 44th-place player Torii Hunter (114.4). Lester has 5.0 Box-Toppers points on the season—he has earned 4.0 of those points when he’s earned a no decision.
Debut—Braves pitcher Matt Wisler made his Box-Toppers debut Wednesday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Wisler (5.1IP H 0R 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Nationals) made his Major League debut June 19 and was playing in his third career game. He is the 3,522nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Carrasco earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Walker and Altuve each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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
| 7/1 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 16.2 | Indians | Carlos Carrasco (W, 10-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 13 | |
| 12.0 | Mariners | Taijuan Walker (W, 7-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| NL | 9.0 | Reds | Johnny Cueto (W, 5-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| 8.0 | Blue Jays | Mark Buehrle (W, 9-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 8.0 | `Cubs | Jon Lester | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 7 | ||
| 6.0 | White Sox | Jose Quintana (W, 4-7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 8 | ||
| 5.1 | Braves | Matt Wisler (W, 2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 5.1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 6 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Pirates | Neil Walker 2B | 6 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | Athletics | Jesse Hahn (W, 6-6) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | Orioles | Zach Britton (S, 23) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 3.0 | Brewers | Scooter Gennett 2B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | Dodgers | Brett Anderson (W, 5-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||
| 2.2 | `Yankees | Chasen Shreve (H, 5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| BAT | 2.0 | Astros | Jose Altuve 2B | 4 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Marlins | Justin Bour 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||