Tigers’ Rodriguez tops players for Thursday, May 4; Nationals’ Corbin tops NL players

Tigers pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is Thursday’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 2023 Box-Toppers points.
▪️ A B-T look at upcoming pitching matchups.

Tigers pitcher Eduardo Rodriguez is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Rodriguez struck out nine over eight scoreless innings, allowing two hits and one walk, in the 2-0 win over the Mets.

Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 4.0 for the season, 14th among all players and eighth among American League pitchers.

Rodriguez had a Box-Toppers game score of +14.0, the same as another Player of the Game winner Thursday, Rays pitcher Zach Eflin (7IP 3H 0R 0BB 10K W in the 3-2 win over the Pirates). But Rodriguez ranked higher and won overall Player of the Day honors because he had more innings pitched—eight vs. seven.

Opposing pitcher was Justin Verlander of the Mets, who led all players in 2022 Box-Toppers points (26.0) when he was with the Astros. This was his debut for the season and with the Mets. While not eligible to win Player of the Game because the Mets lost, he had a Box-Toppers game score of 0.0 (5IP 5H 2R BB 5K L).

Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin is Thursday’s Box-Toppers NL Player of the Day.

National League Player of the Day—Nationals pitcher Patrick Corbin struck out six over seven innings, allowing two runs, three hits and no walks, in the 4-3 win over the Cubs. Corbin did not earn the win, picking up a no-decision, because the Cubs tied the game after he exited.

Corbin earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, his first points of the season, and is 40th among NL pitchers.

Luis Rengifo of the Angels is Thursday’s Box-Toppers AL Batter of the Day.

American League Batter of the Day—Luis Rengifo of the Angels hit a three-run homer, doubled, hit a sacrifice fly and went 3-for-4, scoring twice and driving in four runs, in the 11-7 win over the Cardinals.

Harold Castro of the Rockies is Thursday’s Box-Toppers NL Batter of the Day.

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, May 4.

Player Pos Team BTP
1 deGrom, Jacob 3343 pi sp tex al 7.7
2 Gausman, Kevin 3191 pi sp tor al 7.0
3 Gallen, Zac 4171 pi sp ari nl 6.7
4 Cole, Gerrit 3232 pi sp nyy al 6.0
5 Ohtani, Shohei 3933 pi sp ana al 5.7
6 McClanahan, Shane 4399 pi sp tb al 5.7
7 Gray, Sonny 3259 pi sp min al 5.7
8 Rasmussen, Drew 4547 pi sp tb al 5.0
9 Freeland, Kyle 3763 pi sp col nl 4.7
10 Luzardo, Jesus 4282 pi sp fla nl 4.7
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National League Batter of the Day—Harold Castro of the Rockies went 1-for-1, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 9-6 win over the Brewers.

Scoring—Rodriguez earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Corbin earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Rengifo and Castro each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s 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).
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5/4 BTG Game Player AB R H BI IP H R ER BB K
MLB +14.0 DET 2, NYM 0 Eduardo Rodriguez, (W 3‑2) 8.0 2 0 0 1 9
+14.0 TB 3, PIT 2 Zach Eflin, (W 4‑0) 7.0 3 0 0 0 10
NL +6.0 `WSH 4, CHC 3 Patrick Corbin 7.0 3 2 2 0 6
BAT +5.0 LAA 11, STL 7 Luis Rengifo, 2B 4 2 3 4
+4.0 BOS 11, TOR 5 Masataka Yoshida, LF 5 3 3 3
+4.0 BAL 13, KC 10 Ramon Urías, PH‑3B 2 0 2 4
+4.0 `MIN 7, CHW 3 (F/12) Pablo López 7.0 6 2 2 1 8
+3.0 SEA 5, OAK 3 Taylor Trammell, LF 2 1 1 3
BAT +3.0 COL 9, MIL 6 Harold Castro, PH‑2B 1 1 1 2
+2.0 ATL 6, MIA 3 A.J. Minter, (S 7) 1.0 1 0 0 0 2
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 would 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 +/‑
Rodriguez, Eduardo 3480 pi sp det al 4.0 4.0 38.8 58.2 +4.0
Yoshida, Masataka 4763 lf dh bos al 3.5 3.5 3.5 3.5 +3.5
Lopez, Pablo 4028 pi sp min al 3.0 13.7 36.8 36.8 -7.7
Urias, Ramon 4491 3b ph bal al 3.0 7.5 8.5 8.5 -1.5
Minter, A.J. 3946 pi cp atl nl 3.0 4.0 12.0 12.0 +2.0
Rengifo, Luis 4178 ss 2b 3b ana al 2.5 5.0 6.0 6.0 0.0
Eflin, Zach 3679 pi sp tb al 2.0 5.7 28.5 33.5 -1.7
Corbin, Patrick 3027 pi sp dc nl 1.7 5.7 44.8 87.0 -2.3
Castro, Harold 4187 2b ss 1b ph col nl 1.5 6.5 10.0 10.0 -3.5
Trammell, Taylor 4374 lf sea al 1.0 1.0 4.0 4.0 +1.0
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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
MIA Cabrera, Edward 4641 1.0 7.4 7.4 7.4
CHC Steele, Justin 4415 3.0 8.0 11.0 11.0
TOR Bassitt, Chris 3413 1.0 12.0 40.8 44.8
PIT Hill, Rich 2215 1.0 8.7 29.4 80.2
CHW Lynn, Lance 2992 0.0 9.7 49.2 113.8
CIN Greene, Hunter 4651 1.0 7.0 7.0 7.0
NYY Brito, Jhony 4761 1.0 1.0 1.0 1.0
TB Chirinos, Yonny 4039 0.0 0.0 9.0 9.0
BOS Sale, Chris 2806 3.0 3.0 36.1 147.6
PHI Wheeler, Zack 3204 2.0 16.4 58.2 70.9
COL Senzatela, Antonio 3760 0.0 0.0 10.0 13.0
NYM Senga, Kodai 4762 2.0 2.0 2.0 2.0
MIN Ober, Bailey 4441 0.0 3.0 9.7 9.7
CLE Battenfield, Peyton* 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0
BAL Kremer, Dean 4330 1.0 8.7 12.4 12.4
ATL Fried, Max 4011 2.0 18.0 46.5 46.5
OAK Muller, Kyle 4454 0.0 0.0 2.0 2.0
KC Keller, Brad 4008 1.0 7.4 25.4 25.4
DET Boyd, Matthew 3550 0.0 0.0 18.7 28.8
STL Montgomery, Jordan 3814 1.0 10.4 21.1 27.1
TEX Dunning, Dane 4317 0.0 4.4 9.4 9.4
LAA Anderson, Tyler 3656 1.0 13.7 31.4 36.4
WSH Gray, Josiah 4503 2.7 7.4 8.4 8.4
ARI Kelly, Merrill 4143 0.0 11.0 26.0 26.0
LAD Kershaw, Clayton 2494 4.4 15.1 56.9 263.7
SD Musgrove, Joe 3705 0.0 17.4 47.5 53.2
HOU Javier, Cristian 4290 2.0 17.7 25.7 25.7
SEA Castillo, Luis Miguel 3840 3.7 13.7 50.1 58.5
MIL Burnes, Corbin 4029 3.0 18.4 47.2 47.2
SF Manaea, Sean 3637 0.0 6.0 36.1 50.2
Starters subject to change.
* Player has yet to earn Box-Toppers points.
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