Astros pitcher Gerrit Cole and Gary Sanchez of the Yankees are Saturday’s Box-Toppers top players in a pair of American League Division Series games.
ALDS Game 2: Astros 3, Indians 1
Cole struck out 12 over seven innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
Cole had 18.0 Box-Toppers points in 2018, eighth among all players, sixth among AL pitchers.
Cole had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+14.0) of all players in both of Saturday’s games.
Marwin Gonzalez had the highest Box-Toppers game score (+2.0) among Astros batters (2B 4-4 0R 2BI).
Indians starting pitcher Carlos Carrasco (19.1 Box-Toppers points in 2018, seventh among all players, fifth among AL pitchers) had a Box-Toppers game score Saturday of -2.9 (5.1IP 6H 2R BB 3K L).
The Astros now lead the best-of-five game series, 2-0, which resumes Monday in Cleveland.
ALDS Game 2: Yankees 6, Red Sox 2
Sanchez hit two homers, including a three-run shot, and went 2-for-5, scoring twice and driving in four runs, earning Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
He is the first batter to earn Player of the Game honors in the 10 postseason games so far.
Sanchez earned 5.5 Box-Toppers points in 2018, 24th among AL batters, third among AL catchers.
Starting pitcher Masahiro Tanaka (5IP 3H R BB 4K W) also had a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0, but in cases of game score ties, batters hold the tiebreaker advantage, giving Sanchez Player of the Game honors.
Red Sox starting pitcher David Price (14.4 Box-Toppers points in 2018, 18th among all players, 12th among AL pitchers) did not fare well (1.2IP 3H 3R 2BB 0K L) with a Box-Toppers game score of -9.8.
The Yankees tie the best-of-five game series, 1-1, which resumes Monday in New York.
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 | |
| +14.0 | HOU 3, CLE 1 | Gerrit Cole (W, 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 12 | |
| +3.0 | NYY 6, BOS 2 | Gary Sanchez C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
Coming Sunday: The National League Division Series playoffs resume with two Game 3s:
NL Division Series, Game 3: Brewers lead Rockies, 2-0
The pitching matchup Sunday:
Brewers—Wade Miley, 4.0 Box-Toppers points, 249th among all players, 84th among NL pitchers.
Rockies—German Marquez, 14.7 Box-Toppers points, 17th among all players, sixth among NL pitchers.
NL Division Series, Game 3: Dodgers lead Braves, 2-0
The pitching matchup Sunday:
Dodgers—Walker Buehler, 15.1 Box-Toppers points, 15th among all players, fifth among NL pitchers.
Braves—Sean Newcomb, 11.4 Box-Toppers points, 37th among all players, 18th among NL pitchers.
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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