Padres pitcher Eric Lauer is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Lauer struck out nine over four scoreless innings, allowing two hits and three walks, in the 6-2 win over the Reds.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2018 season through the games of Sept. 6:


	Player	Pos	Team	BTP
1	Scherzer, Max 2588	pi sp	dc nl	22.1
2	Snell, Blake 3688	pi sp	tb al	19.8
3	Sale, Chris 2806	pi sp	bos al	19.1
4	Nola, Aaron 3569	pi sp	phi nl	19.1
5	Kluber, Corey 3200	pi sp	cle al	18.7
6	Severino, Luis 3567	pi sp	nyy al	17.7
7	Carrasco, Carlos 2885	pi sp	cle al	16.4
8	Verlander, Justin 2112	pi sp	hou al	16.4
9	Berrios, Jose 3791	pi sp	min al	16.1
10	Paxton, James 3280	pi sp	sea al	16.0

What are those numbers after players' names?
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Lauer did not earn the win, picking up the no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings for a starting pitcher to earn the win. However, because he pitched at least three innings, he was qualified to be considered for Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.

Lauer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, 70th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Francisco Lindor of the Indians hit two home runs and went 4-for-5, scoring three times and driving in four runs, in the 9-4 win over the Blue Jays.

Lindor earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 9.6 for the season, most among the four who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday. Lindor rises to 38th in Box-Toppers season player rankings, second among AL batters, behind J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox (11.5).

Lindor earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the sixth time this season Thursday. Each time, he earned bonus points by earning either AL Batter of the Day or AL Player of the Day honors. Thursday was the third time this season Lindor has earned AL Player of the Day honors worth 1.7 points. The other three times Lindor was Player of the Game, he earned AL Batter of the Day honors worth 1.5 points. In other words, 3.6 of his 9.6 Box-Toppers points earned this season have come in the form of bonus points.

AL and NL Batters of the Day—There are no separate AL or NL Batters of the Day for Thursday.

There is no AL Batter of the Day because the overall AL Player of the Day is batter Francisco Lindor, who also was the only AL player to earn Player of the Game honors in the only game played Thursday by AL teams.

There is no NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no NL batter earned Player of the Game honors in the three games played by NL teams.

Scoring—Lauer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lindor earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. All of Thursday’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 (BTG)




  
    9/6
    BTG
    Game
    Player
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  

    MLB
    +7.0
    `SD 6, CIN 2
    Eric Lauer
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    4.0
    2
    0
    0
    3
    8
  

    AL
    +6.0
    CLE 9, TOR 4
    Francisco Lindor SS
    5
    3
    4
    4
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    `
    +3.0
    CHC 6, WSH 4 (F/10)
    Pedro Strop (W, 5‑1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    +2.0
    `ATL 7, ARI 6 (F/10)
    Anibal Sanchez
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.0
    4
    3
    3
    1
    8
  
MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.

  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 Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’18). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’17-18), the period 2013-2018 (’13-18) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2018 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2017 total (+/-).

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’18	’17‑18	’13‑18	Career	+/‑
Lindor, Francisco 3586	ss	cle al	9.6	13.1	21.1	21.1	+6.1
Sanchez, Anibal 2187	pi sp	atl nl	8.4	10.4	35.9	75.7	+6.4
Strop, Pedro 3005	pi mr cp	chi nl	5.0	5.0	9.0	12.0	+5.0
Lauer, Eric 4017	pi sp	sd nl	4.7	4.7	4.7	4.7	+4.7