Orioles pitcher Zac Lowther is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Lowther struck out seven over five scoreless innings, allowing three hits and two walks, in the 3-0 win over the Rangers.
Lowther earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 2.0 for the season, 475th among all players and 141st among American League pitchers.
This was Lowther’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Lowther made his Major League debut April 25 and was playing in his ninth career game.
National League Player of the Day—J.T. Realmuto of the Phillies homered and went 3-for-3, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 12-6 win over the Pirates.
Realmuto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 7.2 for the season, 84th among all players, 11th among NL batters and first among NL catchers, passing Buster Posey of the Giants (6.5).
American League Batter of the Day—Tim Anderson of the White Sox hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 7-2, seven-inning win over the Indians. Anderson went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter J.T. Realmuto.
Notable—Paul Goldschmidt of the Cardinals earned Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight day Thursday.
Goldschmidt (2HR 3-5 2R 3BI in the 8-5 win over the Brewers) was also NL Batter of the Day Wednesday (HR 2B 3-4 4R 2BI in the 10-2 win over the Brewers). Goldschmidt earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game Thursday and has earned 2.5 points in the past two days.
Goldschmidt now has 9.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, most among the 12 who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday, and ranks 61st among all players, fifth among NL batters.
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 Thursday, Sept. 23.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | lad nl | 25.1 |
| 2 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | nyy al | 22.4 |
| 3 | Wheeler, Zack 3204 | pi sp | phi nl | 21.1 |
| 4 | Marquez, German 3788 | pi sp | col nl | 17.4 |
| 5 | Urias, Julio 3652 | pi sp | lad nl | 17.4 |
| 6 | Burnes, Corbin 4029 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 7 | Woodruff, Brandon 3868 | pi sp | mil nl | 17.1 |
| 8 | deGrom, Jacob 3343 | pi sp | nym nl | 16.7 |
| 9 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | tor al | 16.7 |
| 10 | Ohtani, Shohei 3933 | pi sp | ana al | 16.1 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
Also notable—Overall 2021 Box-Toppers point leader, Dodgers pitcher Max Scherzer (25.1), did not earn Player of the Game honors in his start Thursday.
Scherzer (5IP 6H 5R BB 6K ND in the 7-5 win over the Rockies) had a Box-Toppers game score of -6.0. Player of the Game was Dodgers relief pitcher Joe Kelly (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K ND) with a game score of +3.0.
Debut—In addition to Lowther, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Thursday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Nick Gordon of the Twins (HR 3-4 R 4BI in the 7-2 win over the Blue Jays) made his Major League debut May 6 and was playing in his 65th career game.
Owen Miller of the Indians (2B 2-3 0R 2BI in the 5-3, seven-inning win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut May 23 and was playing in his 55th career game.
Scoring—Lowther earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Realmuto earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Anderson earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (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).| 9/23 | BTG | Game | Player | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MLB | +7.0 | BAL 3, TEX 0 | Zac Lowther, (W 1‑2) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 5.0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | |
| NL | +6.0 | PHI 12, PIT 6 | J.T. Realmuto, PH‑C | 3 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +5.2 | WSH 3, CIN 2 | Patrick Corbin, (W 9‑15) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 6.2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 7 | ||
| BAT | +5.0 | CHW 7, CLE 2 (F/7) | Tim Anderson, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | |
| +4.0 | MIN 7, TOR 2 | Nick Gordon, LF‑RF‑LF | 4 | 1 | 3 | 4 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | STL 8, MIL 5 | Paul Goldschmidt, 1B | 5 | 2 | 3 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | ARI 6, ATL 4 | Carson Kelly, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | SEA 6, OAK 5 | Luis Torrens, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +3.0 | `LAD 7, COL 5 (F/10) | Joe Kelly | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| +1.1 | LAA 3, HOU 2 | Austin Warren, (W 2‑0) | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | 1.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| +1.0 | SD 7, SF 6 (F/10) | Ha‑Seong Kim, 3B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ||
| +1.0 | CLE 5, CHW 3 (F/7) | Owen Miller, 2B | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ | ‑ |
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 | +/- |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goldschmidt, Paul 2935 | 1b | stl nl | 9.0 | 9.0 | 35.9 | 71.3 | +9.0 |
| Realmuto, J.T. 3491 | ca | phi nl | 7.2 | 10.7 | 32.7 | 37.7 | +3.7 |
| Corbin, Patrick 3027 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.7 | 6.7 | 52.5 | 81.3 | +6.7 |
| Anderson, Tim 3659 | ss | chi al | 5.0 | 9.5 | 23.5 | 23.5 | +0.5 |
| Kelly, Carson 4098 | ca ph | ari nl | 3.0 | 3.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | +3.0 |
| Torrens, Luis 4452 | dh ph | sea al | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | +3.0 |
| Kelly, Joe 3066 | pi mr cp sp | lad nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 4.0 | 13.0 | +2.0 |
| KIm, Ha‑Seong 4373 | ss | sd nl | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Lowther, Zac 4556 | pi sp | bal al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Warren, Austin 4521 | pi cp mr | ana al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | +2.0 |
| Gordon, Nick 4557 | lf rf | min al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
| Miller, Owen 4558 | 2b | cle al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | +1.0 |
About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations
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