diff --git a/lucene/CHANGES.txt b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
index 3ba5c082e27..ee23c3c4285 100644
--- a/lucene/CHANGES.txt
+++ b/lucene/CHANGES.txt
@@ -149,6 +149,9 @@ Other
 * SOLR-9109/SOLR-9121: Allow specification of a custom Ivy settings file via system
   property "ivysettings.xml". (Misha Dmitriev, Christine Poerschke, Uwe Schindler, Steve Rowe)
 
+* LUCENE-7206: Improve the ToParentBlockJoinQuery's explain by including the explain
+  of the best matching child doc. (Ilya Kasnacheev, Jeff Evans via Martijn van Groningen)
+
 Build
 
 * LUCENE-7292: Use '-release' instead of '-source/-target' during
diff --git a/lucene/join/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/join/ToParentBlockJoinQuery.java b/lucene/join/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/join/ToParentBlockJoinQuery.java
index c7bc72ff526..e4ee7601bb9 100644
--- a/lucene/join/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/join/ToParentBlockJoinQuery.java
+++ b/lucene/join/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/join/ToParentBlockJoinQuery.java
@@ -17,8 +17,10 @@
 package org.apache.lucene.search.join;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
+import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.Collection;
 import java.util.Collections;
+import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Set;
 
@@ -184,7 +186,7 @@ public class ToParentBlockJoinQuery extends Query {
     public Explanation explain(LeafReaderContext context, int doc) throws IOException {
       BlockJoinScorer scorer = (BlockJoinScorer) scorer(context);
       if (scorer != null && scorer.iterator().advance(doc) == doc) {
-        return scorer.explain(context.docBase);
+        return scorer.explain(context, childWeight);
       }
       return Explanation.noMatch("Not a match");
     }
@@ -436,10 +438,24 @@ public class ToParentBlockJoinQuery extends Query {
       return parentFreq;
     }
 
-    public Explanation explain(int docBase) throws IOException {
-      int start = docBase + prevParentDoc + 1; // +1 b/c prevParentDoc is previous parent doc
-      int end = docBase + parentDoc - 1; // -1 b/c parentDoc is parent doc
-      return Explanation.match(score(), String.format(Locale.ROOT, "Score based on child doc range from %d to %d", start, end)
+    public Explanation explain(LeafReaderContext context, Weight childWeight) throws IOException {
+      int start = context.docBase + prevParentDoc + 1; // +1 b/c prevParentDoc is previous parent doc
+      int end = context.docBase + parentDoc - 1; // -1 b/c parentDoc is parent doc
+
+      Explanation bestChild = null;
+      int matches = 0;
+      for (int childDoc = start; childDoc <= end; childDoc++) {
+        Explanation child = childWeight.explain(context, childDoc - context.docBase);
+        if (child.isMatch()) {
+          matches++;
+          if (bestChild == null || child.getValue() > bestChild.getValue()) {
+            bestChild = child;
+          }
+        }
+      }
+
+      return Explanation.match(score(), String.format(Locale.ROOT,
+          "Score based on %d child docs in range from %d to %d, best match:", matches, start, end), bestChild
       );
     }
 
diff --git a/lucene/join/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/join/TestBlockJoin.java b/lucene/join/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/join/TestBlockJoin.java
index e11d207c44b..ab6aa5886d3 100644
--- a/lucene/join/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/join/TestBlockJoin.java
+++ b/lucene/join/src/test/org/apache/lucene/search/join/TestBlockJoin.java
@@ -24,6 +24,8 @@ import java.util.HashSet;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Locale;
 import java.util.Set;
+import java.util.regex.Matcher;
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
 
 import org.apache.lucene.analysis.MockAnalyzer;
 import org.apache.lucene.document.Document;
@@ -50,6 +52,7 @@ import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause.Occur;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanClause;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BooleanQuery;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.BoostQuery;
+import org.apache.lucene.search.CheckHits;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.DocIdSetIterator;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.Explanation;
 import org.apache.lucene.search.FieldDoc;
@@ -231,6 +234,8 @@ public class TestBlockJoin extends LuceneTestCase {
 
     ToParentBlockJoinCollector c = new ToParentBlockJoinCollector(Sort.RELEVANCE, 1, true, true);
 
+    CheckHits.checkHitCollector(random(), fullQuery.build(), "country", s, new int[] {2});
+
     s.search(fullQuery.build(), c);
 
     TopGroups<Integer> results = c.getTopGroups(childJoinQuery, null, 0, 10, 0, true);
@@ -869,7 +874,16 @@ public class TestBlockJoin extends LuceneTestCase {
           //System.out.println("  hit docID=" + hit.doc + " childId=" + childId + " parentId=" + document.get("parentID"));
           assertTrue(explanation.isMatch());
           assertEquals(hit.score, explanation.getValue(), 0.0f);
-          assertEquals(String.format(Locale.ROOT, "Score based on child doc range from %d to %d", hit.doc - 1 - childId, hit.doc - 1), explanation.getDescription());
+          Matcher m = Pattern.compile("Score based on ([0-9]+) child docs in range from ([0-9]+) to ([0-9]+), best match:").matcher(explanation.getDescription());
+          assertTrue("Block Join description not matches", m.matches());
+          assertTrue("Matched children not positive", Integer.parseInt(m.group(1)) > 0);
+          assertEquals("Wrong child range start", hit.doc - 1 - childId, Integer.parseInt(m.group(2)));
+          assertEquals("Wrong child range end", hit.doc - 1, Integer.parseInt(m.group(3)));
+          Explanation childWeightExplanation = explanation.getDetails()[0];
+          if ("sum of:".equals(childWeightExplanation.getDescription())) {
+            childWeightExplanation = childWeightExplanation.getDetails()[0];
+          }
+          assertTrue("Wrong child weight description", childWeightExplanation.getDescription().startsWith("weight(child"));
         }
       }
 
diff --git a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/CheckHits.java b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/CheckHits.java
index 4eacda743c8..f12960501f9 100644
--- a/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/CheckHits.java
+++ b/lucene/test-framework/src/java/org/apache/lucene/search/CheckHits.java
@@ -346,6 +346,10 @@ public class CheckHits {
     if (expl.getDescription().endsWith("computed from:")) {
       return; // something more complicated.
     }
+    String descr = expl.getDescription().toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
+    if (descr.startsWith("score based on ") && descr.contains("child docs in range")) {
+      Assert.assertTrue("Child doc explanations are missing", detail.length > 0);
+    }
     if (detail.length > 0) {
       if (detail.length==1) {
         // simple containment, unless it's a freq of: (which lets a query explain how the freq is calculated), 
@@ -357,7 +361,6 @@ public class CheckHits {
         // - end with one of: "product of:", "sum of:", "max of:", or
         // - have "max plus <x> times others" (where <x> is float).
         float x = 0;
-        String descr = expl.getDescription().toLowerCase(Locale.ROOT);
         boolean productOf = descr.endsWith("product of:");
         boolean sumOf = descr.endsWith("sum of:");
         boolean maxOf = descr.endsWith("max of:");