Nomar Mazara of the Rangers is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer—who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016—earned his first Box-Toppers point of the season after earning Player of the Game honors.
Player of the Day—Mazara hit a grand slam and went 3-for-5, scoring twice and driving in six runs, in the 10-5 win over the Athletics.
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Amir Garrett pitched six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and striking out four, in the 2-0 win over the Cardinals.
This was Garrett’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. It was also his Major League debut. He is the 3,672nd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Garrett had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of 6.0, tied with two other Friday Players of the Game—Mazara and Brewers pitcher Jimmy Nelson. Mazara won the tiebreaker over Garrett because in cases of Box-Toppers game score ties, batters top pitchers. Garrett won the tiebreaker over Nelson because Garrett earned the win in his game, while Nelson picked up the no-decision.
National League Batter of the Day—Yangervis Solarte of the Padres doubled and went 3-for-5, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 7-6 win over the Giants.
American League Batter of the Day—There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Friday because the overall Player of the Day is AL batter Nomar Mazara.
Debut—Rockies pitcher Kyle Freeland made his Box-Toppers debut Friday, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors (6IP 4H R 2BB 6K W in the 2-1 win over the Dodgers). Freeland was also making his Major League debut. He is the 3,763rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
Streak—Seth Smith of the Orioles has now earned Box-Toppers points in 10 straight seasons after earning Player of the Game honors Friday.
Smith (HR 2B 2-4 2R 2BI in the 6-5 win over the Yankees) made his Box-Toppers debut in 2008 with the Rockies and has 39.2 career Box-Toppers points, ninth among active AL outfielders. His best season was 2008 with the Rockies when he had 8.5 Box-Toppers points, fifth among NL batters.
Notable—Nationals pitcher Max Scherzer now has 132.7 career Box-Toppers points after earning Player of the Game honors Friday (6.2IP 4H 2R 2BB 7K W in the 7-6 win over the Phillies). Scherzer ranks 31st among all players since 1995, when Box-Toppers tracking began. He trails 30th-ranked player Jason Giambi (133.4).
Scherzer led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2016 with 25.7. This was his first point of the year. He now leads all players in Box-Toppers points over 2016 and 2017 with 26.7, passing Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw (26.4).
Scoring—Mazara earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Garrett earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Solarte earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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.
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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 4/7 | Score | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.0 | TEX 10, OAK 5 | Nomar Mazara, RF | 5 | 2 | 3 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| NL | 6.0 | CIN 2, STL 0 | Amir Garrett (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | |
| 6.0 | `MIL 2, CHC 1 (F/11) | Jimmy Nelson | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | ||
| 4.2 | LAA 5, SEA 1 | Jesse Chavez (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 5.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | COL 2, LAD 1 | Kyle Freeland (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 6 | ||
| 4.0 | `DET 6, BOS 5 | Michael Fulmer | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 3.2 | WSH 7, PHI 6 | Max Scherzer (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | SD 7, SF 6 | Yangervis Solarte, 2B | 5 | 1 | 3 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | MIA 7, NYM 2 | Derek Dietrich, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | KC 5, HOU 1 | Jason Vargas (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 3.0 | PIT 5, ATL 4 | Ivan Nova (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 2.1 | TB 10, TOR 8 | Alex Colome (S,3) | - | - | - | - | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | BAL 6, NYY 5 | Seth Smith, RF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | ARI 7, CLE 3 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIN 3, CHW 1 | Phil Hughes (W,1-0) | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
AL—Overall American League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
NL—Overall National League Player of the Day, worth 1.7 total Box-Toppers points.
BAT—Top AL or NL Batter of the Day, worth 1.5 total Box-Toppers points.
All other players listed here earn Player of the Game honors, worth 1.0 Box-Toppers point.
` Pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Mazara, Nomar 3614 | rf | tex al | 2.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | 9.0 | -5.0 |
| Garrett, Amir 3762 | pi sp | cin nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Solarte, Yangervis 3304 | 3b | sd nl | 1.5 | 4.5 | 10.5 | 10.5 | -1.5 |
| Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 1.0 | 26.7 | 104.9 | 132.7 | -24.7 |
| Fulmer, Michael 3640 | pi sp | det al | 1.0 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 | -11.7 |
| Colome, Alex 3189 | pi cp | tb al | 1.0 | 10.0 | 18.7 | 18.7 | -8.0 |
| Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 1.0 | 9.0 | 24.7 | 32.1 | -7.0 |
| Smith, Seth 2489 | rf | bal al | 1.0 | 6.0 | 18.5 | 39.2 | -4.0 |
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | ari nl | 1.0 | 5.5 | 36.9 | 40.9 | -3.5 |
| Nelson, Jimmy 3299 | pi sp | mil nl | 1.0 | 4.0 | 14.4 | 14.4 | -2.0 |
| Dietrich, Derek 3199 | 3b | fla nl | 1.0 | 3.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | -1.0 |
| Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 27.4 | 48.2 | 0.0 |
| Chavez, Jesse 2780 | pi sp | ana al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 20.1 | 21.1 | 1.0 |
| Hughes, Phil 2272 | pi sp | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 30.5 | 49.2 | 1.0 |
| Freeland, Kyle 3763 | pi sp | col nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |