ARCHIVE April 12, 2026
April 12, 2026 · NL Cent

Pittsburgh Pirates vs Chicago Cubs

April 12, 2026Wrigley FieldPartly Cloudy 80°F · 6 mph, Out To CF
AWAY
Pittsburgh Pirates
9-6
6
vs
HOME
Chicago Cubs
7-8
7

Starting pitchers

AWAY · PIT
Bubba Chandler
Bubba Chandler
IP 5.1
HOME · CHC
Jameson Taillon
Jameson Taillon
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · PIT
  1. 1 Oneil Cruz CF
  2. 2 Brandon Lowe 2B
  3. 3 Bryan Reynolds LF
  4. 4 Ryan O'Hearn RF
  5. 5 Nick Yorke 3B
  6. 6 Marcell Ozuna DH
  7. 7 Spencer Horwitz 1B
  8. 8 Konnor Griffin SS
  9. 9 Joey Bart C
HOME · CHC
  1. 1 Nico Hoerner 2B
  2. 2 Moisés Ballesteros DH
  3. 3 Alex Bregman 3B
  4. 4 Ian Happ LF
  5. 5 Seiya Suzuki RF
  6. 6 Carson Kelly C
  7. 7 Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
  8. 8 Dansby Swanson SS
  9. 9 Matt Shaw 1B

Box score

  123456789 R
PIT 140010000 6
CHC 002010121 7

Manager comparison

Both managers grade C- / C entering this matchup.

AWAY · PIT
Don Kelly
C- Lineup 2.3 R Bunts 0.3 R IBBs 0.8 R
HOME · CHC
Craig Counsell
C Lineup 1.7 R Bunts 0.4 R IBBs 0.3 R

Recent form

AWAY · PIT
5-5 W2 +1 run diff
WWLWWWLLLL
HOME · CHC
10-0 W10 +27 run diff
WWWWWWWWWW

Season series: 2-1 with PIT listed first across 3 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 · Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Manager lineup cost +0.02 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.13 vs actual lineup 4.11
  • Player execution +1.89 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.11 projection by 1.89 (scored 6)
  • Game variance +1.87 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · Chicago Cubs
  • Manager lineup cost +0.06 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.40 vs actual lineup 4.35
  • Player execution +2.65 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.35 projection by 2.65 (scored 7)
  • Game variance +2.60 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Swanson HR from the 8-hole

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.1 – 4.4 — actual was 6 – 7.

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.