Blue Jays pitcher Dominic Leone is Thursday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.
Leone pitched 2 1/3 innings of scoreless middle relief, allowing no hits, no runs, one walk, striking out four and earning the win, in the 8-6 win over the Red Sox.
Top 10 players
Here are the top 10 players in Box-Toppers points (BTP) for the 2017 season as of July 20:| Player | Pos | Team | BTP | |
| 1 | Kershaw, Clayton 2494 | pi sp | lad nl | 22.1 |
| 2 | Scherzer, Max 2588 | pi sp | dc nl | 19.0 |
| 3 | Sale, Chris 2806 | pi sp | bos al | 13.1 |
| 4 | Wood, Alex 3246 | pi sp | lad nl | 13.0 |
| 5 | Strasburg, Stephen 2736 | pi sp | dc nl | 12.4 |
| 6 | Santana, Ervin 2005 | pi sp | min al | 12.4 |
| 7 | Carrasco, Carlos 2885 | pi sp | cle al | 11.4 |
| 8 | Greinke, Zack 1871 | pi sp | ari nl | 11.4 |
| 9 | Quintana, Jose 3040 | pi sp | chi nl | 10.0 |
| 10 | Ray, Robbie 3502 | pi sp | ari nl | 10.0 |
Though Justin Smoak hit two home runs for the Blue Jays and went 3-for-5, driving in three runs, his Box-Toppers game score of +3.0 was beaten by Leone’s +5.1. Leone qualified to earn Player of the Game honors only because he earned the win in the game. If Leone had picked up a no-decision in the game with fewer than three innings pitched, Smoak would have been Player of the Game, even if Leone had a higher Box-Toppers game score.
This was Leone’s first Player of the Game honor in nearly three years. He last earned Player of the Game on Aug. 2, 2014, with the Mariners.
National League Player of the Day—Jake Lamb of the Diamondbacks hit two three-run homers in the 12-2 win over the Reds. Lamb went 2-for-5.
American League Batter of the Day—Eric Hosmer of the Royals homered and went 2-for-3, scoring three times and driving in two runs, in the 16-4 win over the Tigers.
National League Batter of the Day—There is no separate NL Batter of the Day for Thursday because the overall NL Player of the Day is batter Jake Lamb.
Notable—Yankees pitcher Luis Severino has the most Box-Toppers points among the nine who earned Player of the Game honors Thursday.
Severino (7IP 8H 0R BB 6K W in the 4-1 win over the Mariners) earns 1.0 Box-Toppers points, giving him 8.7 for the season, 18th among all players and seventh among AL pitchers.
Also notable—Chris Stewart of the Pirates earned his first Player of the Game honor in nearly six years on Thursday.
Stewart (3-3 R BI in the 4-2 win over the Brewers) last earned Player of the Game honors on Sept. 16, 2011, with the Giants, the day he made his Box-Toppers debut. Stewart now has 2.0 career Box-Toppers points. Since he earned his last Box-Toppers point in 2011, 884 players have made their Box-Toppers debut.
Scoring—Leone earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Lamb earns 1.7 points for being NL Player of the Day. Hosmer earns 1.5 points for being AL Batter of the Day. All of Thursday’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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Top player from each game
Listed from highest to lowest Box-Toppers game score| 7/20 | Score | Game | Player of the Game | AB | R | H | BI | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| MLB | 5.1 | TOR 8, BOS 6 | Dominic Leone (W, 2-0) | - | - | - | - | 2.1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | |
| NL | 5.0 | ARI 12, CIN 2 | Jake Lamb (3B) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 6 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.2 | `NYM 3, STL 2 | Seth Lugo | - | - | - | - | 6.2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||
| BAT | 4.0 | KC 16, DET 4 | Eric Hosmer (1B) | 3 | 3 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| 4.0 | NYY 4, SEA 1 | Luis Severino (W, 6-4) | - | - | - | - | 7.0 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 6 | ||
| 2.0 | BAL 9, TEX 7 | Adam Jones (CF) | 5 | 2 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 2.0 | PIT 4, MIL 2 | Chris Stewart (C) | 3 | 1 | 3 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | ATL 6, LAD 3 | Kurt Suzuki (C) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | SD 5, SF 2 | Cory Spangenberg (3B) | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
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 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.
Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players
Here are Box-Toppers point totals of each of the Players of the Game. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’17). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’16-17), the period 2012-2017 (’12-17) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2017 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2016 total (+/-).| Player of the Game | Pos | Team | ’17 | ’16-17 | ’12-17 | Career | +/- |
| Severino, Luis 3567 | pi sp | nyy al | 8.7 | 10.7 | 13.7 | 13.7 | 6.7 |
| Lamb, Jake 3517 | 3b | ari nl | 5.2 | 9.2 | 10.2 | 10.2 | 1.2 |
| Jones, Adam 2347 | cf | bal al | 4.5 | 5.5 | 36.5 | 54.0 | 3.5 |
| Hosmer, Eric 2886 | 1b | kc al | 3.5 | 12.0 | 32.0 | 34.5 | -5.0 |
| Suzuki, Kurt 2344 | ca | atl nl | 3.5 | 5.0 | 16.0 | 35.5 | 2.0 |
| Lugo, Seth 3729 | pi sp | nym nl | 2.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Leone, Dominic 3335 | pi cp | tor al | 2.0 | 2.0 | 5.0 | 5.0 | 2.0 |
| Spangenberg, Cory 3487 | 2b | sd nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 3.0 | 3.0 | 1.0 |
| Stewart, Chris 2969 | ca | pit nl | 1.0 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 2.0 | 1.0 |