ARCHIVE April 6, 2026
April 6, 2026 · AL Cent

Kansas City Royals vs Cleveland Guardians

April 6, 2026Progressive FieldPartly Cloudy 47°F · 5 mph, L To R
AWAY
Kansas City Royals
5-5
4
vs
HOME
Cleveland Guardians
6-5
2

Starting pitchers

AWAY · KC
Michael Wacha
Michael Wacha
IP 7
HOME · CLE
Tanner Bibee
Tanner Bibee
IP 4.2

Lineups

AWAY · KC
  1. 1 Maikel Garcia 3B
  2. 2 Bobby Witt Jr. SS
  3. 3 Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
  4. 4 Salvador Perez C
  5. 5 Carter Jensen DH
  6. 6 Jonathan India 2B
  7. 7 Jac Caglianone RF
  8. 8 Isaac Collins LF
  9. 9 Kyle Isbel CF
HOME · CLE
  1. 1 Steven Kwan CF
  2. 2 Chase DeLauter RF
  3. 3 José Ramírez 3B
  4. 4 Kyle Manzardo 1B
  5. 5 Rhys Hoskins DH
  6. 6 Bo Naylor C
  7. 7 CJ Kayfus LF
  8. 8 Gabriel Arias SS
  9. 9 Brayan Rocchio 2B

Box score

  123456789 R
KC 000101020 4
CLE 001000010 2

Manager comparison

Both managers grade C / C+ entering this matchup.

AWAY · KC
Matt Quatraro
C Lineup 1.9 R Bunts 1.1 R IBBs 0.8 R
HOME · CLE
Stephen Vogt
C+ Lineup 1.5 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.4 R

Recent form

AWAY · KC
6-4 W1 +1 run diff
WLLWWWWWLL
HOME · CLE
6-4 W3 +7 run diff
WWWLLLWWWL

Season series: 2-3 with KC listed first across 5 prior meetings.

Tactical analysis

RunsLeft separates manager decisions from player execution from game variance. Each card below is the same three-number framework that drives the share cards on the SPA replay page.

AWAY · Kansas City Royals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.06 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.36 vs actual lineup 4.30
  • Player execution −0.30 R/G Players fell 0.30 short of the lineup's 4.30 projection (scored 4)
  • Game variance −0.36 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Perez 0-for-4 batting 4th

HOME · Cleveland Guardians
  • Manager lineup cost +0.02 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.49 vs actual lineup 3.47
  • Player execution −1.47 R/G Players fell 1.47 short of the lineup's 3.47 projection (scored 2)
  • Game variance −1.49 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Rocchio HR from the 9-hole

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.4 – 3.5 — actual was 4 – 2.

Keep reading

How RunsLeft analyzes games

Standard content on this page comes from the MLB Stats API. Tactical analysis comes from a per-game Monte Carlo: 10,000 simulated games against the opposing starter's ERA, both for the actual lineup the manager wrote and for the optimal arrangement of those nine players. The three numbers — manager cost, player execution, game variance — separate which part of the result was the lineup, the players, or the dice.

Read the full methodology.