ARCHIVE April 16, 2026
April 16, 2026 · AL Cent

Kansas City Royals vs Detroit Tigers

April 16, 2026Comerica ParkCloudy 67°F · 8 mph, Out To LF
AWAY
Kansas City Royals
7-12
9
vs
HOME
Detroit Tigers
10-9
10

Starting pitchers

AWAY · KC
Kris Bubic
Kris Bubic
IP 4.2
HOME · DET
Keider Montero
Keider Montero
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · KC
  1. 1 Maikel Garcia 3B
  2. 2 Bobby Witt Jr. SS
  3. 3 Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
  4. 4 Salvador Perez DH
  5. 5 Carter Jensen C
  6. 6 Jonathan India 2B
  7. 7 Jac Caglianone RF
  8. 8 Michael Massey LF
  9. 9 Kyle Isbel CF
HOME · DET
  1. 1 Gleyber Torres 2B
  2. 2 Kevin McGonigle 3B
  3. 3 Jahmai Jones DH
  4. 4 Dillon Dingler C
  5. 5 Riley Greene LF
  6. 6 Matt Vierling CF
  7. 7 Spencer Torkelson 1B
  8. 8 Wenceel Pérez RF
  9. 9 Javier Báez SS

Box score

  123456789 R
KC 000101601 9
DET 010140103 10

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 · DET
A.J. Hinch
C- Lineup 2.7 R Bunts 0.2 R IBBs 0.1 R

Recent form

AWAY · KC
6-4 W1 +1 run diff
WLLWWWWWLL
HOME · DET
3-7 L4 -5 run diff
LLLLWWLWLL

Season series: 1-3 with KC listed first across 4 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 +0.01 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.43 vs actual lineup 3.42
  • Player execution +5.58 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.42 projection by 5.58 (scored 9)
  • Game variance +5.57 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · Detroit Tigers
  • Manager lineup cost −0.04 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.81 vs actual lineup 3.85
  • Player execution +6.15 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.85 projection by 6.15 (scored 10)
  • Game variance +6.19 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Torkelson 2-for-4 from the 7-hole

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.4 – 3.8 — actual was 9 – 10.

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.