Diamondbacks pitcher Merrill Kelly is Tuesday’s Box-Toppers Player of the Day.

Kelly struck out seven over 7 2/3 innings, allowing one run, three hits and one walk, in the 4-1 win over the Rangers.

Kelly earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day, his first points of the season and ranks fourth overall in early Box-Toppers season player rankings.

American League Player of the Day—Blue Jays pitcher Tanner Roark struck out five over five innings, allowing one run, three hits and no walks, in the 5-1 win over the Nationals.

Roark earns 1.7 Box-Toppers points for being AL Player of the Day, his first points of the season.

National League Batter of the Day—Javier Baez of the Cubs homered twice and doubled in the 8-5 win over the Reds. Baez went 3-for-5, scoring three times and driving in three runs.

American League Batter of the Day—Josh Donaldson of the Twins homered and went 2-for-3, scoring once and driving in two runs, in the 6-3 win over the Cardinals.

Streak—Pirates pitcher Derek Holland has now earned Box-Toppers points for 12 consecutive seasons after earning his first Player of the Game honor of 2020 Tuesday.

Holland (5.2IP 2H 2R 3BB 5K ND in the 8-6 win over the Brewers) earned his first Box-Toppers points in 2009 with the Rangers and has 57.8 career points, 24th among active NL pitchers. His best season was 2011 with the Rangers when he had 12.7 Box-Toppers points, 13th among AL pitchers. In 2019, he had 1.0 point with the Giants and the Cubs.

Debut—Two players made their Box-Toppers debut Tuesday, each with their first career Player of the Game honor:

Rays pitcher Pete Fairbanks (1IP H 0R 0BB 3K W in the 5-2 win over the Braves) made his Major League debut June 9, 2019, and was playing in his 23rd career game.
Indians pitcher Cam Hill (1IP 0H 0R 0BB 2K Sv in the 5-3 win over the White Sox) made his Major League debut July 26 and was playing in his second career game.

Notable—Coronavirus forced the postponement of two games again Tuesday. The Orioles were to have faced the Marlins in Miami and the Yankees were to have faced the Phillies in Philadelphia. However, after half the traveling roster of the Miami Marlins tested positive for COVID-19 after playing in Philadelphia, their games for Monday and Tuesday in Miami were postponed and they are now not likely to play again until next Monday.

While no Phillies players tested positive for COVID-19, baseball postponed the series between the Yankees and the Phillies scheduled for Philadelphia and also postponed the series the two teams were to play later in the week in New York.

The Phillies may resume games later this week.

Meanwhile, baseball put together a makeshift series between the two teams affected by the outbreak who were not exposed—the Yankees and Orioles. They will play a two-game series beginning tonight (Wednesday) in Baltimore.

Scoring—Kelly earns 2.0 Box-Toppers points for being Player of the Day and Roark earns 1.7 points for being AL Player of the Day. Baez and Donaldson each earn 1.5 points for being their league’s Batter of the Day. All of Tuesday’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 (BTG)





    7/28
    BTG
    Game
    Player
    AB
    R
    H
    BI
    
    IP
    H
    R
    ER
    BB
    K
  


    MLB
    +8.2
    ARI 4, TEX 1
    Merrill Kelly, (W 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    7.2
    3
    1
    1
    1
    7
  

    AL
    +5.0
    TOR 5, WSH 1
    Tanner Roark, (W 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.0
    3
    1
    1
    0
    5
  

    BAT
    +4.0
    CHC 8, CIN 5
    Javier Báez, SS
    5
    3
    3
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    +4.0
    SD 5, SF 3
    Drew Pomeranz, (S 1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    +4.0
    `LAD 5, HOU 2
    Caleb Ferguson, (Hld 1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    +3.0
    NYM 8, BOS 3
    J.D. Davis, LF
    3
    2
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    +3.0
    CLE 4, CHW 3
    Aaron Civale, (W 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    6.0
    7
    2
    2
    1
    9
  

    
    +3.0
    TB 5, ATL 2
    Pete Fairbanks, (W 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    1
    0
    0
    0
    3
  

    
    +3.0
    CLE 5, CHW 3
    Cam Hill, (S 1)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    1.0
    0
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    BAT
    +2.0
    MIN 6, STL 3
    Josh Donaldson, 3B
    3
    1
    2
    2
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    +2.0
    LAA 10, SEA 2
    Max Stassi, C
    3
    1
    1
    3
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

    
    +2.0
    DET 4, KC 3
    Tyler Alexander, (W 1‑0)
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    2.0
    2
    0
    0
    0
    2
  

    
    +1.2
    `PIT 8, MIL 6
    Derek Holland
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    
    5.2
    2
    2
    2
    3
    5
  

    
    +1.0
    COL 8, OAK 3
    Raimel Tapia, DH
    4
    2
    2
    1
    
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
    ‑
  

MLB—Overall Box-Toppers Player of the Day, worth 2.0 total Box-Toppers points.

  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 Player of the Game winners. Players are ranked by their Box-Toppers point total for the current season (’20). Also shown are each players’ Box-Toppers point total for this season and last (’19-20), the period 2015-2020 (’15-20) and each players’ career point total. Also shown is how their 2020 Box-Toppers point total compares with their 2019 total (+/-).

Player of the Game	Pos	Team	’20	’19‑20	’15‑20	Career	+/-
Kelly, Merrill 4143	pi sp	ari nl	2.0	10.0	10.0	10.0	‑6.0
Roark, Tanner 3261	pi sp	tor al	1.7	9.4	34.1	49.1	‑6.0
Donaldson, Josh 3144	3b	min al	1.5	9.0	36.6	56.6	‑6.0
Baez, Javier 3395	ss	chi nl	1.5	5.5	22.7	25.2	‑2.5
Davis, J.D. 4146	lf	nym nl	1.0	4.5	4.5	4.5	‑2.5
Pomeranz, Drew 3061	pi cp sp	sd nl	1.0	4.0	27.8	35.8	‑2.0
Alexander, Tyler 4196	pi mr sp	det al	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	‑2.0
Civale, Aaron 4173	pi sp	cle al	1.0	4.0	4.0	4.0	‑2.0
Tapia, Raimel 3824	dh lf	col nl	1.0	3.0	5.0	5.0	‑1.0
Holland, Derek 2634	pi sp	pit nl	1.0	2.0	18.7	57.8	+0.0
Ferguson, Caleb 4006	pi mr	lad nl	1.0	1.0	6.0	6.0	+1.0
Stassi, Max 4038	ca	ana al	1.0	1.0	2.0	2.0	+1.0
Fairbanks, Pete 4273	pi mr	tb al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	+1.0
Hill, Cam 4274	pi cp	cle al	1.0	1.0	1.0	1.0	+1.0

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About Box-Toppers’ team abbreviations

Diamondbacks’ Kelly tops players for Tuesday, July 28; Blue Jays’ Roark tops AL players

Top player from each game

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

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Top player from each game

Box-Toppers point totals of the day’s top players

Box-Toppers

Tracking who most helps their teams win the most games, based on box score stats. A method to measure & compare baseball's top players.