Diamondbacks’ Gallen tops players for Friday, July 22; Athletics’ Irvin tops AL players

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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Today’s key Box-Toppers numbers. Click links to jump to charts elsewhere on this page.
▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2022 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at today’s pitching matchups.

Diamondbacks pitcher Zac Gallen is Friday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Gallen struck out seven over seven scoreless innings, allowing two hits and no walks, in the 10-1 win over the Nationals.

Gallen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 7.0 for the season, 37th among all players and 16th among National League pitchers.

American League Player of the Day—Athletics pitcher Cole Irvin struck out eight over seven innings, allowing two runs (one earned), three hits and one walk, in the 5-4 win over the Rangers.

Irving earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, 30th among AL pitchers.

Athletics pitcher Cole Irvin is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Player of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays doubled and went 6-for-7, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 28-5 win over the Red Sox.

Gurriel earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being AL Batter of the Day, giving him 5.5 for the season, 10th among AL batters.

Lourdes Gurriel Jr. of the Blue Jays is Friday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

National League Batter of the Day—Nelson Velazquez of the Cubs hit two home runs, including a three-run shot, in the 15-2 win over the Phillies. Velazquez went 2-for-2, scoring twice and driving in five runs.

This was Velazquez’s Box-Toppers debut, his first career Player of the Game honor. Velazquez made his Major League debut May 30 and was playing in his 27th career game.

Nelson Velazquez of the Cubs is Friday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

Notable—Padres pitcher Yu Darvish has the most 2022 Box-Toppers points among the 14 who earned Player of the Game honors Friday.

Darvish (7IP 4H R BB 9K W in the 4-1 win over the Mets) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 10.1 for the season, 12th among all players and sixth among NL pitchers.

Darvish becomes the 13th player this season to reach 10.0 Box-Toppers points. It is his eighth season with 10.0 or more points. He has earned 10.0 or more points in three of the past four seasons, the only exception being the pandemic-shortened 2020 season when he had 9.7. His best season was his first in 2012 with the Rangers, when he had 16.8 Box-Toppers points, fourth among AL pitchers. In 2021, he had 13.1 points with the Padres, 13th among NL pitchers.

Darvish now also has 117.3 career Box-Toppers points, rising to 51st place among all players in career points since player tracking began in 1995. With his 1.0 point Friday, he passes three players on the “all-time” list—Todd Helton (116.4), Mark Buehrle (116.7) and Adrian Beltre (116.8). He now trails 50th-ranked player Barry Zito (117.4). Darvish ranks 15th among active players in career points, eighth among active NL pitchers.

Padres pitcher Yu Darvish is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Mets.

Also notable—Yordan Alvarez of the Astros earns Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors for the second straight game Friday.

Alvarez (HR 1-2 R 2BI in the 5-2 win over the Mariners) was also AL Batter of the Day Thursday in the second game of a doubleheader (HR 2B 2-4 2R 3BI in the 7-5 win over the Yankees).

Alvarez earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game, giving him 8.7 for the season, 22nd among all players and third among AL batters, behind Shohei Ohtani of the Angels (17.0) and Jose Ramirez of the Guardians (9.7). Alvarez has earned 2.5 of his points in the past two days after earning 1.5 points Thursday.

Yordan Alvarez of the Astros is Box-Toppers Player of the Game in Friday’s win over the Mariners.

One more notable thing—Two notable pitchers—Shohei Ohtani of the Angels and Max Scherzer of the Mets—started Friday but neither earned Player of the Game honors.

Angels pitcher Shohei Ohtani did not earn Player of the Game honors Friday in Los Angeles loss.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2022. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Friday, July 22.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 17.0
2 Verlander, Justin 2112 pi sp hou al 15.0
3 Cease, Dylan 4231 pi sp chi al 14.7
4 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 14.4
5 Alcantara, Sandy 4061 pi sp fla nl 12.7
6 Musgrove, Joe 3705 pi sp sd nl 12.4
7 Fried, Max 4011 pi sp atl nl 12.0
8 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 11.4
9 Rodon, Carlos 3494 pi sp sf nl 10.7
10 Skubal, Tarik 4414 pi sp det al 10.7
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  • Ohtani, who leads players in 2022 Box-Toppers points (17.0) did not earn Player of the Game in the 8-1 loss to the Braves. Ohtani had a Box-Toppers game score of -1.9 (6.1IP 6H 6R BB 11K L). Player of the Game was Braves pitcher Charlie Morton (6IP 2H 0R 3BB 7K ND) with a game score of +8.0.

  • Scherzer, who has the fourth-most career Box-Toppers points since 1995 (231.3), did not earn Player of the Game honors in the 4-1 loss to the Padres. Scherzer have a Box-Toppers game score of +4.0 (6IP 5H 2R BB 8K L). Player of the Game was Padres pitcher Yu Darvish (7IP 4H R BB 9K W) with a game score of +9.0. Scherzer has 5.0 Box-Toppers points in 2022, 31st among NL pitchers.

Scoring—Gallen earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Irvin earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Gurriel and Velazquez each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Friday’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.

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.

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).
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7/22 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +12.0 ARI 10, WSH 1 Zac Gallen, (W 5‑2) 7.0 2 0 0 0 7
+9.0 SD 4, NYM 1 Yu Darvish, (W 9‑4) 7.0 4 1 1 1 9
AL +8.0 OAK 5, TEX 4 Cole Irvin, (W 5‑7) 7.0 3 2 1 1 8
+8.0 MIA 8, PIT 1 Braxton Garrett, (W 2‑3) 6.0 2 1 1 1 7
+8.0 `ATL 8, LAA 1 Charlie Morton 6.0 2 0 0 3 7
BAT +7.0 TOR 28, BOS 5 Lourdes Gurriel Jr., LF 7 3 6 5
BAT +7.0 CHC 15, PHI 2 Nelson Velázquez, PH‑CF 2 2 2 5
+5.0 `LAD 5, SF 1 Tyler Anderson 6.0 4 1 0 2 6
+4.1 NYY 7, BAL 6 Lucas Luetge, (W 3-3) 2.1 1 0 0 0 3
+4.0 CIN 9, STL 5 Tyler Naquin, RF 4 2 2 4
+4.0 MIL 6, COL 5 (F/13) Brent Suter, (W 2‑3) 2.0 0 0 0 0 2
+2.0 TB 7, KC 3 Francisco Mejía, C 4 2 2 2
+2.0 HOU 5, SEA 2 Yordan Alvarez, DH 2 1 1 2
+1.0 CLE 8, CHW 2 Josh Naylor, DH 5 1 2 3
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.
N/A—Not applicable. No Player of the Game was chosen because the game ended in a tie.
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.
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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 in 2022 (’22). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’21-22), the period 2017-2022 (’17-22) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2022 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2021 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’22 ’21‑22 ’17‑22 Career +/‑
Darvish, Yu 3003 pi sp sd nl 10.1 23.2 61.7 117.3 -3.0
Alvarez, Yordan 4209 dh hou al 8.7 15.7 19.2 19.2 +1.7
Anderson, Tyler 3656 pi sp lad nl 8.0 15.0 28.7 30.7 +1.0
Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 7.0 11.0 22.7 22.7 +3.0
Morton, Charlie 2503 pi sp atl nl 6.7 19.4 62.7 90.4 -6.0
Gurriel, Lourdes Jr. 4148 lf dh tor al 5.5 10.7 11.7 11.7 +0.3
Irvin, Cole 4140 pi sp oak al 4.7 9.4 12.4 12.4 0.0
Garrett, Braxton 4341 pi sp fla nl 4.7 5.7 6.7 6.7 +3.7
Luetge, Lucas 3274 pi mr cp nyy al 3.7 5.7 5.7 6.7 +1.7
Mejia, Francisco 4069 ca ph tb al 3.5 6.5 7.5 7.5 +0.5
Naylor, Josh 4154 1b cle al 2.5 2.5 4.0 4.0 +2.5
Velazquez, Nelson 4694 cf ph chi nl 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 +1.5
Naquin, Tyler 3662 rf cin nl 1.0 5.0 7.0 9.0 -3.0
Suter, Brent 3843 pi cp mr sp mil nl 1.0 2.0 10.7 10.7 0.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Saturday’s pitching matchups

A Box-Toppers look at the upcoming day’s probable pitching matchups. Teams are paired below with visiting teams on top and home teams on the bottom. Each team’s starting pitcher is shown with their Box-Toppers point total from 2022 (’22), over a two-year period (’21-22), over a six-year period (’17-22) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’22 ’21-22 ’17-22 Career
CLE McKenzie, Triston 4303 8.0 18.4 22.4 22.4
CHW Cueto, Johnny 2400 4.4 9.4 16.4 116.2
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 15.0 15.0 82.3 221.6
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 7.7 14.7 14.7 14.7
TOR Manoah, Alek 4424 6.7 17.4 17.4 17.4
BOS Crawford, Kutter 4660 3.0 3.0 3.0 3.0
CHC Stroman, Marcus 3327 1.7 11.7 27.4 50.5
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 8.7 29.8 51.5 63.2
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 7.7 10.4 10.4 10.4
DET Pineda, Michael 2841 1.0 8.0 18.7 52.8
STL Matz, Steven 3516 4.4 11.1 27.8 43.4
CIN Minor, Mike 2894 0.0 6.4 32.5 59.6
MIA Meyer, Max* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
PIT Quintana, Jose 3040 3.0 4.0 39.5 74.7
NYY Cole, Gerrit 3232 11.4 33.8 98.4 134.3
BAL Lyles, Jordan 3100 1.0 8.0 20.7 28.4
COL Urena, Jose 3492 1.0 1.0 19.7 23.4
MIL Woodruff, Brandon 3868 8.4 25.5 42.2 42.2
SD Snell, Blake 3688 2.0 13.4 59.3 63.3
NYM Bassitt, Chris 3413 6.0 19.7 34.8 38.8
TB Patino, Luis 4308 0.0 1.0 2.0 2.0
KC Singer, Brady 4337 3.0 6.0 10.0 10.0
CLE Pilkington, Konnor 4642 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 1.0 13.4 49.2 105.1
SF Wood, Alex 3246 5.0 18.0 38.7 58.1
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 9.7 28.8 36.8 42.5
LAA Sandoval, Patrick 4357 4.0 6.0 7.0 7.0
ATL Wright, Kyle 4349 9.7 9.7 10.7 10.7
WSH Sanchez, Anibal 2187 0.0 0.0 17.4 82.7
ARI Bumgarner, Madison 2753 1.0 11.0 30.7 136.4
TEX Hearn, Taylor 4604 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
OAK Kaprielian, James 4416 1.0 8.4 8.4 8.4
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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