Johnny Cueto pitched a complete-game two-hitter to lead the Royals to a Game 2 World Series win over the Mets Wednesday, picking up Box-Toppers Player of the Game honors.
Cueto allowed one run, struck out four and walked three in the 7-1 win, giving the Kansas City Royals a 2-0 lead over the New York Mets in the best-of-seven series.
Cueto had a Box-Toppers game score of +6.0, the highest of all Royals players Wednesday. During the regular season, Cueto had 12.8 Box-Toppers points, 25th among all players and 13th among AL pitchers. However, Cueto earned nearly all of his points while pitching with the Cincinnati Reds before he was traded in late July to the Royals. He had 10.8 points with the Reds and 2.0 with the Royals, earning Player of the Day honors on Aug. 10.
This was the second time Cueto earned Player of the Game honors this postseason. He was also Player of the Game in the American League Division Series Game 5 against the Astros on Oct. 14.
Alex Gordon (2B 1-2 2R BI) had the highest Box-Toppers game score among Royals batters of +2.0.
Mets starting pitcher Jacob deGrom ranked third in Box-Toppers points during the regular season (22.4), but had the lowest Box-Toppers game score of any player in Game 2. deGrom (5IP 6H 4R 3BB 2K) had a Box-Toppers game score of −10.0.
Only three Mets players had Box-Toppers game scores of 0.0 or more in Wednesday’s Game 2 as most pitchers gave up multiple hits or runs and most batters were shut down by Cueto and did not earn hits, runs or RBIs. The top three Mets were:
- Middle reliever Hansel Robles (1IP 0R 0H 0K), Box-Toppers game score of +1.0.
- Middle reliever Sean Gilmartin (0.2IP 0R 0H 0K), Box-Toppers game score of +0.2.
- First baseman Lucas Duda (2-3 BI), Box-Toppers game score of 0.0. Duda had both of the Mets’ hits off Cueto.
Thursday is a travel day. The World Series resumes with Game 3 Friday in New York.
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 Royals in World Series Game 2
Here are the Box-Toppers game score of all Royals who played in World Series Game 2 listed from highest-to-lowest Box-Toppers game score. Johnny Cueto is Player of the Game (POG).
| 10/28 | Score | Team | Players | AB | R | H | BI | BB | K | IP | H | R | ER | BB | K | |
| POG | 6.0 | Royals | Johnny Cueto (W,2-1) | - | - | - | - | - | - | 9.0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | |
| 2.0 | Royals | Alex Gordon, LF | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Eric Hosmer, 1B | 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Mike Moustakas, 3B | 3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 1.0 | Royals | Paulo Orlando, RF | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| 0.0 | Royals | Alcides Escobar, SS | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -1.0 | Royals | Alex Rios, RF | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -2.0 | Royals | Salvador Perez, C | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -3.0 | Royals | Kendrys Morales, DH | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -4.0 | Royals | Lorenzo Cain, CF | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - | ||
| -5.0 | Royals | Ben Zobrist, 2B | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Coming Friday in New York:
World Series Game 3, Royals lead Mets, 2-0
The pitching match-up Friday:
Royals—Yordano Ventura, 11.7 Box-Toppers points, 30th among all players, 15th among AL pitchers.
Mets—Noah Syndergaard, 10.4 Box-Toppers points, 41st among all players, 16th among NL pitchers.
Box-Toppers season-end player rankings report
Box-Toppers point totals of all Royals players active at season's end
Box-Toppers point totals of all Mets players active at season's end
