Jose Altuve of the Astros is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s American League Championship Series Game 1.
Altuve homered and went 1-for-3, scoring twice and driving in three runs, in the 5-4 win over the Red Sox. The Astros take a 1-0 lead in the best-of-seven game series.
Altuve had a Box-Toppers game score Friday of +3.0, best among all Astros players. Astros starting pitcher Framber Valdez had a game score of -9.8 (2.2IP 6H 3R 2ER 3BB 2K ND). Valdez exited with the Astros trailing, 3-1, but six relievers kept the Red Sox scoreless from the fourth to the eighth inning, allowing the Astros to come back.
Red Sox starting pitcher Chris Sale had a game score of -3.8 (2.2IP 5H R BB 2K ND). The best game score among Red Sox batters was Enrique Hernandez with +3.0 (2HR 2B 4-5 2R 2BI).
Altuve earned 6.5 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 126th among all players, 18th among American League batters and third among AL second basemen. This is the second time this postseason Altuve has earned Player of the Game honors. He was also top player in in the AL Division Game 4 win over the White Sox on Tuesday. Altuve joins Dodgers pitcher Julio Urias as the only players with two Player of the Game honors in the 2021 postseason.
Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners
Here is the top player from each of the day’s games listed from highest to lowest Box‑Toppers game score (BTG).| BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +3.0 | HOU 5, BOS 4 | Jose Altuve, 2B | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
Coming Saturday:
AL Championship Series Game 2: Astros lead Red Sox, 1-0
The pitching matchup:
Red Sox—Nathan Eovaldi, 14.1 Box-Toppers points, 16th among all players, sixth among AL pitchers.
This is Eovaldi’s third appearance of the 2021 postseason. He was Player of the Game Oct. 5 in the AL Wild Card Game win over the Yankees. He also started Oct. 10 in the AL Division Series Game 3 win over the Rays.
Astros—Luis Garcia, 10.0 Box-Toppers points, 49th among all players, 18th among AL pitchers.
This is Garcia’s second appearance of the 2021 postseason. He started Oct. 10 in the NL Division Series Game 3 win loss to the White Sox.
Box-Toppers preview of the ALCS from Oct. 14
National League Championship Series Game 1, Dodgers vs. Braves
The expected pitching matchup Saturday:
Dodgers—Corey Knebel, 0.0 Box-Toppers points, 1,204th among all players, 275th among NL pitchers. Knebel earned no points in 27 appearances in the 2021 regular season, including four starts, none longer than two innings. He’s expect to open the game and pitch one or two innings, as he did in the NLDS Game 5 Thursday.
Knebel last earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors Sept. 24, 2018, with the Brewers, a season in which he earned 5.0 Box-Toppers points as a closing pitcher.
Dodgers were widely expected to start Max Scherzer, who closed NLDS Game 5. He’s now slated to start Game 2.
Scherzer has 25.1 Box-Toppers points, first among all players, first among NL pitchers. He’s had three 2021 postseason appearance. He started the NL Wild Card Game Oct. 6 and NLDS Game 3 on Oct. 11. He also pitched an inning of relief and earned the save in NLDS Game 5 on Oct. 14. But he did not earn Player of the Game honors in any of those appearances.
Braves—Max Fried, 11.8 Box-Toppers points, 30th among all players, 19th among NL pitchers.
This is Fried’s second 2021 postseason appearance. He was Player of the Game in the NLDS Game 2 win over the Brewers on Oct. 9.
Box-Toppers preview of the NLCS from Oct. 15
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.