Mariners pitcher Hisashi Iwakuma is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Sunday, Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rises to sixth in Box-Toppers season player rankings and Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals extends his Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of Aug. 2.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.4 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 16.0 |
| 3 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 15.4 |
| 4 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 15.0 |
| 5 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | chi al | 14.4 |
| 6 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 14.1 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 13.7 |
| 8 | Price, David 2593 | pi sp | tor al | 13.1 |
| 9 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 10 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 13.0 |
Player of the Day—Iwakuma struck out eight over 8 2/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1, 11-inning win over the Twins. Iwakuma did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he exited the game with the score tied, 1-1.
National League Player of the Day—Marlins pitcher Jose Fernandez pitched six scoreless innings, striking out 10 and allowing four hits, in the 5-2 win over the Padres. Fernandez did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because after he exited, the Padres tied the game 2-2.
American League Batter of the Day—Stephen Drew of the Yankees tripled, doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-3 win over the White Sox.
National League Batter of the Day—Jace Peterson of the Braves hit a three-run homer and went 3-for-4 in the 6-2 win over the Phillies.
Rankings—Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray rose to sixth place in Box-Toppers season player rankings after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Gray (7IP 4H R 7K ND in the 2-1 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 14.1 for the season. He ranks third among AL pitchers, behind Felix Hernandez of the Mariners (15.4) and Chris Sale of the White Sox (14.4).
Notable—Randal Grichuk of the Cardinals extends his Box-Toppers point lead among NL batters after earning Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Grichuk (2-R HR 2-4 in the 3-2 win over the Rockies) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 9.5 for the season. Grichuk ranks 24th among all players this season.
Debut—Tigers pitcher Daniel Norris made his Box-Toppers debut Sunday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors.
Norris (7.1IP 4H R 5K W in the 6-1 win over the Orioles) made his Major League debut Sept. 5, 2014, and was playing in his 11th career game. He is the 3,548th player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Scoring—Iwakuma earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Fernandez earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Drew and Peterson each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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
| 8/2 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 10.2 | `Mariners | Hisashi Iwakuma | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| 10.1 | Rangers | Martin Perez (W,1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | ||
| NL | 10.0 | `Marlins | Jose Fernandez | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 10 | |
| 9.0 | Pirates | Charlie Morton (W,7-4) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 | ||
| 9.0 | Blue Jays | R.A. Dickey (W,6-10) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 6.0 | Mets | Noah Syndergaard (W, 6-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 9 | ||
| 5.1 | Tigers | Daniel Norris (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | Yankees | Stephen Drew, 2B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | `Athletics | Sonny Gray | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 7 | ||
| 4.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (S,26) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Braves | Jace Peterson, 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Dodgers | Andre Ethier, LF | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Astros | Collin McHugh (W,13-5) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | Cubs | Clayton Richard (W,2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | ||
| 1.0 | Cardinals | Randal Grichuk, CF | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| `Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save. | ||||||||||||||||