Lance McCullers Jr. of the Astros and Randy Arozarena of the Rays are Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners in Thursday’s pair of American League Division Series openers.
ALDS Game 1: Astros 6, White Sox 1
McCullers struck out four over 6 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing four hits and no walks, in the 6-1 win over the White Sox. The Astros now lead the White Sox 1-0 in the best-of-five-game series.
McCullers had 8.7 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 68th among all players, 25th among AL pitchers and second among Astros players, behind pitcher Luis Garcia (10.0).
McCullers had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +6.2. Astros top batter Thursday was designated hitter Yordan Alvarez with a Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 (HR 2B 2-3 2R 2BI). White Sox starting pitcher Lance Lynn had a game score of -10.8 (3.2IP 6H 5R 2BB 4K L).
ALDS Game 1: Rays 5, Red Sox 0
Randy Arozarena of the Rays homered, stole home and went 1-for-2, scoring three times and driving in one run, in the 5-0 win over the Red Sox.
Arozarena had 4.0 Box-Toppers points in 2021, 238th among all players, 51st among AL batters and fourth among Rays batters.
Arozarena had a Box-Toppers game score Thursday of +3.0. Rays starting pitcher Shane McClanahan (5IP 5H 0R 0BB 3K W) also had a game score of +3.0, but in cases of game score ties, batters hold the tiebreaking advantage, giving Arozarena Player of the Game honors. Red Sox starting pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez had a game score of -5.8 (1.2IP 2H 2R 2BB K L).
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 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| +6.2 | HOU 6, CHW 1 | Lance McCullers Jr., (W 1‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | |
| +3.0 | TB 5, BOS 0 | Randy Arozarena, LF | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
` Pitcher had a no‑decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.
AL Division Series Game 2, Astros lead White Sox, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
White Sox—Lucas Giolito, 11.4 Box-Toppers points, 36th among all players, 14th among AL pitchers.
Astros—Framber Valdez, 5.0 Box-Toppers points, 175th among all players, 58th among AL pitchers.
AL Division Series Game 2, Rays lead Red Sox, 1-0
The pitching matchup Friday:
Red Sox—Chris Sale, 2.0 Box-Toppers points, 440th among all players, 124th among AL pitchers.
Rays—Shane Baz, 1.7 Box-Toppers points, 525th among all players, 152nd among AL 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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