Red Sox pitcher Matt Barnes is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Game in the American League Championship Series Game 2.
The Red Sox even the best-of-seven game series wit the Astros, 1-1.
ALCS Game 2: Red Sox 7, Astros 5
Barnes struck out one over 1 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing no hits, no walks, and earning the win.
Barnes had 2.0 Box-Toppers points in the regular season, 427th among all players, 98th among AL pitchers and 15th among AL middle relievers. It is the first time in four 2018 postseason appearances that he has earned Player of the Game honors.
Barnes had a Box-Toppers game score Sunday of +2.1. While he did not have the requisite three innings pitched to automatically qualify for Player of the Game honors, he did earn the decision, which put him in the running. If he had not earned the win, third baseman Rafael Devers would have been Player of the Game with a Box-Toppers game score of +2.0 (2-3 2R BI).
Red Sox pitcher Rick Porcello, acting as a middle reliever in the game, actually had a higher Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND), but did not earn the win or save, did not pitch at least three innings and did not have as many innings pitched as the player who otherwise won Player of the Game.
Red Sox starting pitcher David Price had the lowest Box-Toppers game score among all players Sunday of -8.8 (4.2IP 5H 4R 4BB 4K ND).
Astros starter Gerrit Cole had a Box-Toppers game score of -6.0 (6IP 6H 5R 4ER 2BB 5K L).
In a previous posting, Box-Toppers named Devers as Player of the Game. Upon closer inspection, that was incorrect.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score (BTG)| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| +2.1 | BOS 7, HOU 5 | Matt Barnes (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Coming Monday:
National League Championship Series Game 3, series tied, 1-1, Brewers at Dodgers
The pitching matchup Monday:
Brewers—Jhoulys Chacin, 13.7 Box-Toppers points, 20th among all players, ninth among NL pitchers.
Chacin was Player of the Game in his one previous postseason appearance, in the NLDS Game 2 win over the Rockies on Oct. 5.
Dodgers—Walker Buehler, 15.1 Box-Toppers points, 15th among all players, fifth among NL pitchers.
Buehler has appeared once in the postseason in the NLDS Game 3 loss against the Braves on Oct. 7.
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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