Red Sox pitcher David Price is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Wednesday’s World Series Game 2.
The Boston Red Sox win 4-2 to take a 2-0 lead over the Los Angeles Dodgers in the best-of-seven game series.
Price struck out five over six innings, allowing two runs, three hits and three walks.
This is Price’s second Box-Toppers Player of the Game honor of the postseason. Price was also Player of the Game in the ALCS Game 5 win over the Astros on Oct. 18. He’s the sixth player with two Player of the Game honors this postseason. The other five include two in the World Series—Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw and Jackie Bradley Jr. of the Red Sox. The other three are Astros pitcher Justin Verlander and Brewers pitchers Brandon Woodruff and Jhoulys Chacin.
Price had 14.4 Box-Toppers points in the regular season, 18th among all players, 12th among AL pitchers.
Price had a Box-Toppers game score of +1.0 Wednesday, which wasn’t actually the highest game score among Red Sox players. Two other Red Sox pitchers had higher game scores—Joe Kelly (+3.0) and Nathan Eovaldi (+2.0), but neither of them qualified to earn Player of the Game honors. To qualify, a pitcher must:
Pitch at least three innings
Earn the win or save
Or have a higher Box-Toppers game score and the same or more innings pitched as the pitcher who otherwise earned Player of the Game.
Neither Kelly (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND) nor Eovaldi (1IP 0H 0R 0BB K ND) met those conditions, meaning Price had the highest game score among qualifying players, earning Player of the Game honors.
Price’s +1.0 game score was the same as closer Craig Kimbrel’s (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 0K Sv), but in cases of game score ties, the winning pitcher ranks ahead of the pitcher earning the save.
Mookie Betts had the highest Box-Toppers game score (0.0) among Red Sox batters (2B 3-4 R 0BI), the only non-negative game score by a Red Sox batter Wednesday.
Dodgers starting pitcher Hyun-Jin Ryu had a Box-Toppers game score of -5.8 (4.2IP 6H 4R BB 5K L). Dodgers top batter David Freese had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 (1-2 R 0BI).
The World Series resumes Friday with Game 3 in Los Angeles.
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.
Box-Toppers strives for accuracy. See a mistake in a post? A wrong name, wrong team, grammar error, spelling goof, etc.? Thanks for pointing it out! Contact Box-Toppers here. Let's fix it and make it right.
Top Red Sox in World Series Game 2: Red Sox 4, Dodgers 2
Here are the Box-Toppers game scores (BTG) of all Red Sox who played in World Series Game 2, listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game (POG) is David Price, who had the highest Box-Toppers game score among players qualified to earn Player of the Game honors.| 10/24 | BTG | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| +3.0 | Joe Kelly (H, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +2.0 | Nathan Eovaldi (H, 2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| POG | +1.0 | David Price (W, 2‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.0 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 5 | |
| +1.0 | Craig Kimbrel (S, 6) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| 0.0 | Mookie Betts RF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | J.D. Martinez DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Ian Kinsler 2B | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Christian Vazquez C | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Steve Pearce 1B | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑1.0 | Mitch Moreland PH‑1B | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑2.0 | Xavier Bogaerts SS | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑2.0 | Jackie Bradley CF | 3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑2.0 | Andrew Benintendi LF | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| ‑4.0 | Rafael Devers 3B | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
POG—Player of the Game
World Series Game 3, Red Sox lead Dodgers, 2-0
Friday’s starting pitchers:
Red Sox—Rick Porcello, 11.4 Box-Toppers points, 36th among all players, 17th among AL pitchers.
Porcello has appeared four times previously this postseason but has not earned Player of the Game honors:
He appeared as a reliever in the ALDS Game 1 win over the Yankees, but did not earn Player of the Game honors (0.2IP H 0R 0BB 0BB ND).
He started in the ALDS Game 4 win over the Yankees, but did not earn Player of the Game honors (5IP 4H R 0BB K W).
He appeared as a reliever in the ALCS Game 2 win over the Astros. Porcello did not earn Player of the Game honors (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND).
He started in the ALCS Game 4 win over the Astros on Oct. 17, but did not earn Player of the Game honors (4IP 7H 4R BB 3K ND). He had a game-worst Box-Toppers game score of -9.0.
Dodgers—Walker Buehler, 15.1 Box-Toppers points, 15th among all players, fifth among NL pitchers.
Buehler has appeared three times this postseason and has earned Player of the Game honors once:
He appeared in the NLDS Game 3 loss against the Braves on Oct. 7.
He appeared in the NLCS Game 3 loss against the Brewers on Oct. 15.
He was Player of the Game in the NLCS Game 7 win over the Brewers on Oct. 19 (4.2IP 6H R 0BB 7K ND).
Related:
Box-Toppers World Series preview
Box-Toppers AL Championship Series preview
Box-Toppers NL Championship Series preview