Indians' Corey Kluber (CG 1R 11K) tops players for Thursday, April 24

Indians pitcher Corey Kluber is Thursday’s Player of the Day. Kluber pitched a complete game, striking out 11 and allowing only one run in the 5-1 win over the Royals.

Mets pitcher Bartolo Colon is National League Player of the Day. Colon struck out eight over seven innings, allowing only one run, in the 4-1 win over the Cardinals.

Josh Donaldson of the Athletics is American League Batter of the Day. Donaldson homered twice, went 3-for-4 and drove in four runs in the 10-1 win over the Astros.

Carlos Ruiz of the Phillies is NL Batter of the Day. Ruiz went 3-for-3 with two doubles and drove in two runs in the 7-3 win over the Dodgers.

Notable: Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, in fifth place on Box-Toppers all-time player rankings (record keeping began in 1995) received his first Player of the Game honor since May 31, 2013. Sabathia (6IP 8K W in 14-5 win vs. Red Sox) received 1.0 Box-Toppers point, giving him 173.3 for his career. He is just behind Alex Rodriguez (fourth place, 179.3) on the all-time list and just ahead of Roy Halladay (sixth place, 170.7). Albert Pujols (10th place, 161.3) joined the all-time top 10 earlier this week.

Kluber receives 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day. Colon receives 1.7 for NL Player of the Day. Donaldson and Ruiz each receive 1.5 for being top Batter of the Day in their league.

All of Thursday’s other Players of the Game (listed in the chart below) receive 1.0 Box-Toppers point.

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.

Top player from each game

Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score

424	Score	Team	Player	AB	R	H	BI	BB	K		IP	H	R	ER	BB	K
MLB	15.0	Indians	Corey Kluber (W, 2-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		9.0	4	1	0	0	11
NL	9.0	Mets	Bartolo Colon (W, 2-3)	-	-	-	-	-	-		7.0	4	1	1	0	8
	6.2	Dbacks	Mike Bolsinger (W, 1-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.2	4	1	0	2	7
BAT	6.0	Athletics	Josh Donaldson 3B	4	3	3	4	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
BAT	4.0	Phillies	Carlos Ruiz C	3	2	3	2	2	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	4.0	Tigers	Max Scherzer (W, 2-1)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	7	2	2	1	10
	4.0	Yankees	CC Sabathia (W, 3-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	3	2	2	3	8
	3.0	Twins	Kurt Suzuki C	4	1	3	3	0	0		-	-	-	-	-	-
	3.0	Reds	Tony Cingrani (W, 2-2)	-	-	-	-	-	-		6.0	6	1	1	2	7
	2.0	Orioles	David Lough LF	4	3	3	0	1	1		-	-	-	-	-	-
	2.0	`Padres	Joaquin Benoit	-	-	-	-	-	-		1.0	1	0	0	0	2

` Denotes that the pitcher had a no-decision in the game and did not pick up a win or a save.