Tigers’ Manning tops players for Thursday, Aug. 31; Acuña bolsters NL batting lead

Tigers pitcher Matt Manning is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

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▪️ Box-Toppers Player of the Game winners.
▪️ Box-Toppers points of the day’s top players.
▪️ Top 10 players in 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.
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Tigers pitcher Matt Manning is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Also Thursday, Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves extends his 2023 Box-Toppers points lead among National League batters after earning NL Batter of the Day honors.

Player of the Day

Manning struck out four over six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks, in the 4-3, 10-inning win over the Yankees. Manning did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Yankees tied the game after he exited.

Manning earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.7 for the season, 161st among all players and 58th among American League pitchers.

National League Player of the Day is Giants pitcher Jakob Junis.

National League Player of the Day

Giants pitcher Jakob Junis struck out three over four scoreless and hitless innings, allowing one walk, in the 7-2 win over the Padres.

Junis did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because he did not pitch the required five innings to earn the win. Junis was pulled after 58 pitches. The Padres ended up getting seven total hits off Giants relievers.

Junis earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 5.7 for the season, 116th among all players and 38th among NL pitchers.

Junis had a +6.0 Box-Toppers game score Thursday, same as Matt Manning, who edged Junis as overall Player of the Day because he had more innings pitched—six vs. four.

National League Batter of the Day is Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves.

Top 10 players

Here are the top 10 in Box-Toppers season player rankings for 2023. Players are ranked by Box-Toppers points (BTP) earned this season through Thursday, Aug. 31.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp dh ana al 19.4
2 Strider, Spencer 4626 pi sp atl nl 19.1
3 Bassitt, Chris 3413 pi sp tor al 15.4
4 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 15.1
5 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 14.7
6 Peralta, Freddy 3965 pi sp mil nl 14.7
7 Scherzer, Max 2588 pi sp tex al 14.4
8 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 13.7
9 Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 13.4
10 Miller, Bryce 4797 pi sp sea al 13.1
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National League Batter of the Day

Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves hit a grand slam and went 3-for-4, scoring once and driving in four runs, in the 8-7 win over the Dodgers.

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Acuna earns 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being NL Batter of the Day, giving him 10.7 for the season, 22nd among all players and increasing his lead among NL batters, ahead of Pete Alonso of the Mets (9.0).

Acuna becomes the 34th player this season to reach 10 Box-Toppers points. He is also the fourth batter to reach that mark in 2023. This is Acuna’s first season with 10 or more points. His previous best was 2018 with the Braves, when he had 9.2 points, fourth among NL batters. In 2022, he had 3.5 points with the Braves.

With Acuna as the fourth batter reaching 10 points, there are already as many batters to reach that mark as there were in 2023. That year was the fewest number of batters with 10 points since Box-Toppers tracking began in 1995. (The highest is 28 in 1997, 1999 and 2000.) However, one of those four batters this season is Shohei Ohtani of the Angels, who has earned half his 19.4 points as a pitcher and currently has 9.7 as a batter.

American League Batter of the Day

There is no separate AL Batter of the Day for Thursday because no AL batter earned Player of the Game honors in the four games played.

Scoring

  • Manning earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day.

  • Junis earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day.

  • Acuna earns 1.5 points for being NL Batter of the Day.

  • All of Thursday’s other Player of the Game winners (listed in the chart) 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.

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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).

8/31 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +6.0 `DET 4, NYY 3 (F/10) Matt Manning ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 6.0 2 0 0 2 4
NL +6.0 `SF 7, SD 2 Jakob Junis ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ 4.0 0 0 0 1 3
BAT +4.0 ATL 8, LAD 7 Ronald Acuña Jr. RF 4 1 3 4 ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑ ‑
+1.0 MIA 6, WSH 1 Jazz Chisholm Jr. CF 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.
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 2023 (’23). Also shown is their point total for this season and last (’22-23), the period 2018-2023 (’18-23) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2023 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2022 total (+/-).
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Player of the Game Pos Team ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career +/‑
Acuna, Ronald Jr. 3947 rf atl nl 10.7 14.2 29.6 29.6 +7.2
Junis, Jakob 3857 pi mr sp sf nl 5.7 10.7 18.7 21.7 +0.7
Manning, Matt 4550 pi sp det al 4.7 7.7 8.7 8.7 +1.7
Chisholm, Jazz Jr. 4364 cf fla nl 4.5 6.0 10.0 10.0 +3.0
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A Box-Toppers look at Friday’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 2023 (’23), over a two-year period (’22-23), over a six-year period (’18-23) and their career point total.
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Game Starter ’23 ’22‑23 ’18‑23 Career
CHC Wicks, Jordan 4912 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
CIN Ashcraft, Graham 4645 4.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
CHC Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
CIN Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
MIA Perez, Eury 4814 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0
WSH Irvin, Jake 4805 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
SEA Gilbert, Logan 4439 12.4 26.5 33.5 33.5
NYM Senga, Kodai 4762 10.7 10.7 10.7 10.7
TB Glasnow, Tyler 3948 9.4 9.4 45.8 45.8
CLE Quantrill, Cal 4195 2.0 8.0 17.7 17.7
MIN Ryan, Joe 4539 7.0 21.7 24.4 24.4
TEX Scherzer, Max 2588 14.4 24.4 94.0 250.7
BOS Paxton, James 3280 5.0 5.0 36.1 60.9
KC Lyles, Jordan 3100 0.0 3.7 23.4 31.1
DET Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 10.0 10.0 44.8 64.2
CHW Toussaint, Touki 4110 2.0 4.0 8.7 8.7
NYY Rodon, Carlos 3494 0.0 19.8 37.5 56.6
HOU Verlander, Justin 2112 8.7 34.7 87.3 241.3
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 12.0 26.4 68.2 80.9
MIL Peralta, Freddy 3965 14.7 22.1 53.5 53.5
PIT Keller, Mitch 4230 10.0 12.0 17.0 17.0
STL Hudson, Dakota 4035 1.0 5.0 17.4 17.4
TOR Ryu, Hyun Jin 3139 2.0 3.0 45.5 71.6
COL Flexen, Chris 4368 0.0 2.0 13.7 13.7
LAA Sandoval, Patrick 4357 3.0 11.0 14.0 14.0
OAK Sears, JP 4627 3.0 8.0 8.0 8.0
BAL Irvin, Cole 4140 3.0 10.7 18.4 18.4
ARI Davies, Zach 3581 1.0 2.0 15.0 30.7
SF Undecided 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
SD Wacha, Michael 3276 9.0 17.4 32.5 59.2
ATL Fried, Max 4011 5.0 21.0 49.5 49.5
LAD Urias, Julio 3652 11.0 30.4 56.5 63.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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