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Indians pitcher Trevor Bauer is Saturday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Bauer struck out nine over seven innings, allowing one run, one hit and one walk, in the 2-1 win over the Twins. Bauer did not earn the win, picking up the no-decision, because the game was tied, 1-1, when he exited.
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Angels pitcher Alex Meyer is Sunday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Meyer struck out seven over 6 1/3 innings, allowing one run and three hits, in the 4-1 win over the Tigers.
| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 8.4 |
| 2 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 7.7 |
| 3 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 7.0 |
| 4 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 6.0 |
| 5 | Vargas, Jason 2055 | pi sp | kc al | 6.0 |
| 6 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 5.4 |
| 7 | Keuchel, Dallas 3050 | pi sp | hou al | 5.4 |
| 8 | Triggs, Andrew 3723 | pi sp | oak al | 5.4 |
| 9 | Kimbrel, Craig 2825 | pi cp | bos al | 5.0 |
| 10 | Nova, Ivan 2796 | pi sp | pit nl | 5.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Patrick Valaika of the Rockies hit two homers and went 2-for-4, driving in four runs, in the 9-6 win over the Dodgers.
This was Valaika’s Box-Toppers debut, the first time in his career he earned Player of the Game honors. Valaika made his Major League debut Sept. 6, 2016, and was playing in his 33rd career game. He is the 3,793rd player to debut in Box-Toppers since record keeping began in 1995.
American League Batter of the Day—Jason Kipnis of the Indians homered twice and went 4-for-5, driving in four runs, in the 8-3 win over the Twins.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Sunday because the overall NL Player of the Day was batter Patrick Valaika.
Notable—Aaron Altherr of the Phillies has the most season Box-Toppers points of any of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday.
Altherr (HR 2-3 R BI in the 4-3 win over the Nationals) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 4.5 for the season. He ranks 19th among all players and third among NL batters.
Debut—Besides Valaika, two other players made their Box-Toppers debut Sunday with their first career Player of the Game honor:
Minor oddity—Of the 17 who earned Player of the Game honors Sunday, a large majority of them—13—were batters, including five who were catchers, generally the position that generates the lowest Box-Toppers point totals.
Scoring—Meyer earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Valaika earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Kipnis earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Sunday’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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| 5/14 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 6.1 | LAA 4, DET 1 | Alex Meyer (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | 6.1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| BAT | 5.0 | CLE 8, MIN 3 | Jason Kipnis, 2B | 5 | 2 | 4 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `NYY 11, HOU 6 | Chad Green | - | - | - | - | 3.2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 | ||
| 4.1 | TOR 3, SEA 2 | Ryan Tepera (W,3-1) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | ||
| 4.0 | KC 9, BAL 8 | Drew Butera, C | 4 | 3 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| NL | 4.0 | COL 9, LAD 6 | Patrick Valaika, SS | 4 | 2 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | MIA 3, ATL 1 | Tyler Moore, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TEX 6, OAK 4 | Elvis Andrus, SS | 4 | 2 | 3 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | STL 5, CHC 0 | Yadier Molina, C | 4 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | HOU 10, NYY 7 | George Springer, CF | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | TB 11, BOS 2 | Jesus Sucre, C | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | SF 8, CIN 3 | Buster Posey, C | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 3.0 | CHW 9, SD 3 | Melky Cabrera, PH | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | MIL 11, NYM 9 | Manny Pina, C | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 6, ARI 4 (F/10) | Jose Osuna, 1B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | WSH 6, PHI 5 | Matt Albers (S,2) | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | PHI 4, WSH 3 | Aaron Altherr, CF | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Altherr, Aaron 3563 | lf rf cf ph | phi nl | 4.5 | 7.0 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 2.0 |
| Tepera, Ryan 3774 | pi mr | tor al | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 |
| Posey, Buster 2745 | ca 1b | sf nl | 3.0 | 6.5 | 31.5 | 36.0 | -0.5 |
| Pina, Manny 3769 | ca | mil nl | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 |
| Meyer, Alex 3742 | pi sp | ana al | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Valaika, Patrick 3793 | ss | col nl | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Kipnis, Jason 2933 | 2b | cle al | 1.5 | 1.5 | 20.5 | 23.5 | 1.5 |
| Andrus, Elvis 2582 | ss | tex al | 1.0 | 10.2 | 15.2 | 20.7 | -8.2 |
| Springer, George 3337 | rf | hou al | 1.0 | 7.5 | 11.5 | 11.5 | -5.5 |
| Cabrera, Melky 2143 | lf ph | chi al | 1.0 | 5.0 | 15.0 | 31.5 | -3.0 |
| Molina, Yadier 1967 | ca | stl nl | 1.0 | 5.0 | 14.5 | 35.7 | -3.0 |
| Green, Chad 3675 | pi mr | nyy al | 1.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | 4.0 | -2.0 |
| Butera, Drew 2883 | ca | kc al | 1.0 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 0.0 |
| Moore, Tyler 3045 | lf 1b ph | fla nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 1.0 |
| Osuna, Jose 3795 | 1b | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Sucre, Jesus 3794 | ca | tb al | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
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. Players earn Box-Toppers points 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.