Five players with multi-home run games all fall short of winning Player of the Game

Wednesday, Sept. 24 Box-Toppers Sidelights Sidebar

Sep 25, 2025

Sosa, Schwarber, Judge, Raleigh, Wood all hit 2 or more HRs, but all are overshadowed by teammate pitchers

Five batters had multi-home run games on Wednesday, but none of them won Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.

All five contributed to their team winning the game, but none of them won Player of the Game honors, as a teammate pitcher recorded a higher Box-Toppers game score.

Edmundo Sosa of the Phillies had the most impressive game among the five, hitting three home runs and going 3-for-4, scoring three times and driving in five runs, in the 11-1 win over the Marlins. He recorded a +7.0 Box-Toppers game score, highest among all 319 batters in Wednesday’s Major League games and second-highest among all players who did not win Player of the Game honors.

Player of the Game honors instead went to Phillies pitcher Jesús Luzardo (7IP 3H 0R 0ER 0BB 10K W), who recorded a +13.0 game score.

Kyle Schwarber of the Phillies also hit multiple home runs in that game (2HR 2B 4-5 2R 2BI), recording a +3.0 game score. Schwarber’s 12.0 Box-Toppers points in 2025 leads National League batters. He now has 56 home runs in 2025.

Wednesday’s other multi-homer, non-Player of the Game-winning batters are:

Aaron Judge of the Yankees (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI in the 8-1 win over the White Sox), who recorded a +5.0 Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game was Yankees pitcher Max Fried (7IP 4H R 2BB 7K W) with a +6.0 game score. Despite now having 51 home runs in 2025, Judge only has 6.5 Box-Toppers points for the season, 19th among AL batters.
Cal Raleigh of the Mariners (2HR 2B 3-5 2R 4BI in the 9-2 win over the Rockies), who recorded a +4.0 Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game was Mariners pitcher Luis Castillo (7.1IP H R 0BB 10K W) with a +14.1 game score. Despite now having 60 home runs in 2025, Raleigh has only 6.0 Box-Toppers points for the season, 23rd among AL batters.
James Wood of the Nationals (2HR 2-4 2R 2BI in the 4-3 win over the Braves), who recorded a +2.0 Box-Toppers game score. Player of the Game was Nationals pitcher Andrew Alvarez (4.1IP 2H 0R 3BB 5K ND) with a +4.1 game score. Wood has 30 home runs in 2025 and has 7.7 Box-Toppers points, eighth among NL batters.

While Schwarber leads NL batters in 2025 Box-Toppers points with his 50-plus home run season, Judge and Raleigh rank far outside the season’s top 10 in Box-Toppers points among AL batters, despite their prodigious totals, in part because when they hit home runs, they are overshadowed by teammate pitchers with higher game scores, as they both were Wednesday.

However, Judge led AL batters with 13.0 Box-Toppers points in 2024, hitting 58 home runs.

Below is a further look at Box-Toppers Sidelights Sidebar, reviewing the day’s top pitchers, overlooked top performers and lowest Box-Toppers game scores.

Box-Toppers Daily Scorecard post listing all B-T Player of the Game winners:

Mariners’ Castillo tops day’s players; Pirates’ Skenes takes NL pitching lead

Shawn Plank

Sep 25

Read full story

Wednesday’s top pitching matchup—PIT at CIN

Paul Skenes, Pirates, 20.1 B-T points in 2025, 2nd*
Hunter Greene, Reds, 13.4 B-T points in 2025, 10th*

*Rank among NL pitchers, 2025

Result—PIT 4, CIN 3 (F/11)

▪️Paul Skenes, Pirates, was Player of the Game (6IP 4H 0R 0BB 7K ND) with +9.0 B-T game score.
▪️Hunter Greene, Reds, had +2.0 B-T game score in loss (6IP 5H 2R 2BB 7K ND).
▶︎ Skenes earns 1.0 B-T point, giving him 21.1 for 2025, rising to 1st among NL pitchers.

High scores, no points

Highest Box-Toppers game scores for the day among players who did not earn Player of the Game honors:
▪️+9.0—Taj Bradley, Twins (6IP 2H R 2BB 9K ND)
Was not Player of the Game in loss vs. TEX.
Player of the Game—Jacob deGrom, Rangers (5IP 2H R BB 8K ND) with +8.0 game score.
▪️+7.0—Edmundo Sosa, Phillies (3HR 3-4 3R 5BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. MIA.
Player of the Game—Teammate Jesús Luzardo (7IP 3H R 0ER 0BB 10K W) with +13.0 game score.
▪️+5.0—Aaron Judge, Yankees (2HR 3-4 2R 4BI)
Was not Player of the Game in win vs. CHW.
Player of the Game—Teammate Max Fried (7IP 4H R 2BB 7K W) with +6.0 game score.

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores

Out of 448 total players Wednesday, 129 pitchers
-16.0—Jonah Tong, Mets (2IP 7H 5R 2BB K L vs. CHC)
-13.9—Tanner Gordon, Rockies
-11.0—Valente Bellozo, Marlins
-8.9—Alex Vesia, Dodgers

Lowest Box-Toppers game scores by batters

Out of 319 total batters Wednesday
-5.0—Matt Olson, Braves 0-5 3K
-5.0—Tim Tawa, Diamondbacks 0-5 3K
-5.0—Harrison Bader, Phillies 0-5 2K
-5.0—Matt McLain, Reds 0-5 2K
-5.0—Jared Triolo, Pirates 0-5 2K

Box-Toppers uses Baseball-Reference.com, MLB.com and other sources to compile this information.