Indians pitcher Triston McKenzie is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Also Friday, J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox regains the 2021 Box-Toppers points lead among American League batters, passing Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, after earning AL Batter of the Day honors.
Player of the Day—McKenzie struck out nine over seven scoreless innings, allowing one hit and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Royals. McKenzie did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Royals tied the game after he exited.
McKenzie earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.7 for the season, 133rd among all players and 52nd among AL pitchers.
National League Player of the Day—Braves pitcher Charlie Morton struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 5-0 win over the Marlins.
Morton earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, 11th among all players and eighth among NL pitchers.
American League Batter of the Day—J.D. Martinez of the Red Sox hit a three-run homer and doubled in the 11-5 win over the Phillies. Martinez went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in four runs.
Martinez earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 9.7 for the season, 13th among all players and rising to first place among AL batters, passing previous leader Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (8.4).
Ohtani had passed Martinez for the lead among AL batters when he won AL Batter of the Day honors on July 2. Though Ohtani has 8.4 points for the season, he’s earned only 3.0 as a designated hitter—the other 5.4 were earned as a pitcher.
National League Batter of the Day—Francisco Lindor of the Mets hit a grand slam and went 1-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 13-4 win over the Pirates.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2021. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, July 9.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 2 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 14.1 |
| 3 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 13.4 |
| 4 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 13.4 |
| 5 | Glasnow, Tyler 3948 | pi sp | tb al | 12.7 |
| 6 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 11.4 |
| 7 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 11.0 |
| 8 | Darvish, Yu 3003 | pi sp | sd nl | 10.4 |
| 9 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 9.7 |
| 10 | Civale, Aaron 4173 | pi sp | cle al | 9.7 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Notable—Rangers pitcher Spencer Patton earned Player of the Game honors for the first time in nearly six years Friday.
Patton (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 3K ND in the 3-2 win over the Athletics) last earned Player of the Game honors Aug. 5, 2015, with the Rangers. Interestingly, that was the second day in a row he earned Player of the Game honors. Patton now has 4.0 career Box-Toppers points since 2014.
Patton was out of Major League Baseball from 2017 to 2020, playing in Japan. He last won Player of the Game honors in his 29th career Major League game. Friday was his 66th career game.
Scoring—McKenzie earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Morton earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Martinez and Lindor each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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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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).| 7/9 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +14.0 | `CLE 2, KC 1 | Triston McKenzie | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 9 | |
| NL | +10.0 | ATL 5, MIA 0 | Charlie Morton, (W 8‑3) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 7.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| +8.0 | `MIN 4, DET 2 | Kenta Maeda | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | ||
| +7.0 | `TB 7, TOR 1 | Jeffrey Springs | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | ||
| +6.0 | `SF 5, WSH 3 | Logan Webb | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 3.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | ||
| +4.2 | SD 4, COL 2 | Miguel Diaz, (W 3‑1) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 2.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | +4.0 | BOS 11, PHI 5 | J.D. Martinez, DH | 3 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| BAT | +4.0 | NYM 13, PIT 4 | Francisco Lindor, SS | 3 | 2 | 1 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | CIN 2, MIL 0 | Heath Hembree, (S 5) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +4.0 | `TEX 3, OAK 2 | Spencer Patton, (Hld 4) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| +3.0 | CHW 12, BAL 1 | Tim Anderson, SS | 5 | 3 | 3 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 7, LAA 3 | Mitch Haniger, DH | 4 | 1 | 2 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | CHC 10, STL 5 | Joc Pederson, LF | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +2.2 | `NYY 4, HOU 0 | Nestor Cortes | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||
| +2.1 | `ARI 5, LAD 2 | Taylor Widener | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 4.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 |
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 Player of the Game winners
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 (’21). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’20-21), the period 2016-2021 (’16-21) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2021 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2020 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’21 | ’20‑21 | ’16‑21 | Career | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Morton, Charlie 2503 | pi sp | atl nl | 9.7 | 11.7 | 56.0 | 80.7 | +7.7 |
| Martinez, J.D. 2922 | dh | bos al | 9.7 | 9.7 | 41.7 | 53.4 | +9.7 |
| Webb, Logan 4258 | pi sp | sf nl | 5.0 | 6.0 | 7.7 | 7.7 | +4.0 |
| Maeda, Kenta 3609 | pi sp | min al | 4.0 | 12.4 | 51.8 | 51.8 | ‑4.4 |
| Lindor, Francisco 3586 | ss | nym nl | 4.0 | 4.0 | 25.1 | 26.1 | +4.0 |
| McKenzie, Triston 4303 | pi sp | cle al | 3.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | 7.7 | ‑0.3 |
| Pederson, Joc 3621 | lf | chi nl | 3.5 | 5.2 | 20.7 | 20.7 | +1.8 |
| Haniger, Mitch 3772 | rf dh | sea al | 3.5 | 3.5 | 14.5 | 14.5 | +3.5 |
| Springs, Jeffrey 4372 | pi mr | tb al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 2.0 | 6.5 | 20.5 | 20.5 | ‑2.5 |
| Diaz, Miguel 4016 | pi sp mr | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +2.0 |
| Widener, Taylor 4369 | pi sp | ari nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Cortes, Nestor Jr. 4160 | pi sp mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +1.0 |
| Hembree, Heath 3620 | pi cp | cin nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.7 | 4.7 | +1.0 |
| Patton, Spencer 3416 | pi mr | tex al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 4.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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