Athletics pitcher Sonny Gray is Wednesday’s Player of the Day.
Gray struck out seven over seven innings and allowed one run on two hits in the 9-2 win over the Angels. Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, giving him 3.0 for the season and rises to eighth in Box-Toppers player rankings.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2015 season as of April 22.| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Hernandez, Felix 2064 | pi sp | sea al | 4.0 |
| 2 | Kazmir, Scott 1947 | pi sp | oak al | 3.7 |
| 3 | DeSclafani, Anthony 3441 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.7 |
| 4 | Cueto, Johnny 2400 | pi sp | cin nl | 3.4 |
| 5 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 3.0 |
| 6 | Archer, Chris 3194 | pi sp | tb al | 3.0 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
| 8 | Gray, Sonny 3259 | pi sp | oak al | 3.0 |
| 9 | Cole, Gerrit 3232 | pi sp | pit nl | 3.0 |
| 10 | Bauer, Trevor 3065 | pi sp | cle al | 3.0 |
National League Player of the Day—Reds pitcher Johnny Cueto struck out eight over eight innings and allowed one run on five hits in the 2-1 win over the Brewers. Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day, giving him 3.4 for the season and rises to fourth in Box-Toppers player rankings.
National League Batter of the Day—Kolten Wong of the Cardinals homered, doubled and went 3-for-4, driving in three runs, in the 7-5 win over the Nationals.
American League Batter of the Day—Gregorio Petit of the Yankees doubled, scored and drove in three runs in the 13-4 win over the Tigers. It is Petit’s first Box-Toppers point in nearly six years. He last earned Player of the Game honors May 2, 2009, as a member of the Athletics.
Notable—Jose Abreu of the White Sox, last season’s Box-Toppers points leader among AL batters, scored his first Box-Toppers point of the season. Abreu (HR 2B 2-4 R 3BI in the 6-0 win over the Indians) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers point for being Player of the Game. In 2014, he had 15.5 Box-Toppers points.
Also notable—The NL’s top two Box-Toppers points leaders in 2014 faced off in a pitching duel Wednesday, but neither earned Player of the Game honors.
Dodgers pitcher Clayton Kershaw, who led all players in Box-Toppers points in 2014 with 31.5, faced Giants pitcher Madison Bumgarner, second among NL pitchers and third place overall in 2014 with 22.6 Box-Toppers points.
The Giants beat the Dodgers 3-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning on Joe Panik’s walk-off sacrifice fly. Panik earned Player of the Game honors with an Box-Toppers game score of +1.0, the highest of any Giants player.
Had the Dodgers prevailed, Kershaw (6IP 3H 2R 9K ND) likely would have been Player of the Game. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +7. But he exited the game after six innings with the Giants leading 2-0. Kershaw has 1.0 Box-Toppers point this season, earned April 17.
Bumgarner also earned a no decision in the game, leaving with the score tied 2-2. He had a Box-Toppers game score of +0.1 (6.1IP 6H 2R 6K), allowing Panik’s low game score of +1 to beat him for Player of the Game. Bumgarner has yet to earn Player of the Game honors this season and so has no Box-Toppers points for 2015.
Scoring—Gray earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Cueto earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being NL Player of the Day. Wong and Petit each earn 1.5 Box-Toppers points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Wednesday’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.
Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score
| 4/22 | Score | Team | Player | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 8.0 | Athletics | Sonny Gray (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 7 | |
| NL | 7.0 | Reds | Johnny Cueto (W, 1-2) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8.0 | 5 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 8 | |
| 4.0 | Twins | Mike Pelfrey (W, 1-0) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Marlins | Jarred Cosart (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 6.0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | ||
| 4.0 | Rays | Brad Boxberger (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Cardinals | Kolten Wong 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 3.0 | Rockies | Corey Dickerson LF | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| BAT | 3.0 | Yankees | Gregorio Petit 2B | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 2.0 | Blue Jays | Devon Travis 2B | 4 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | White Sox | Jose Abreu 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Dbacks | Chris Owings 2B | 4 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | Pirates | Tony Watson (S, 1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 2.0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 2.0 | Mets | Jeurys Familia (S, 7) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 1.0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| 1.0 | Giants | Joe Panik PH, 2B | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.1 | Mariners | J.A. Happ (W, 1-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 7.1 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 |