ARCHIVE April 18, 2026
April 18, 2026 · AL Cent

Cincinnati Reds vs Minnesota Twins

April 18, 2026Target FieldPartly Cloudy 39°F · 19 mph, Out To CF
AWAY
Cincinnati Reds
13-8
5
vs
HOME
Minnesota Twins
11-10
4

Starting pitchers

AWAY · CIN
Andrew Abbott
Andrew Abbott
IP 4.2
HOME · MIN
Taj Bradley
Taj Bradley
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · CIN
  1. 1 TJ Friedl CF
  2. 2 Will Benson LF
  3. 3 Elly De La Cruz SS
  4. 4 Sal Stewart 2B
  5. 5 Eugenio Suárez DH
  6. 6 Nathaniel Lowe 1B
  7. 7 Tyler Stephenson C
  8. 8 Rece Hinds RF
  9. 9 Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B
HOME · MIN
  1. 1 Byron Buxton DH
  2. 2 Austin Martin RF
  3. 3 Josh Bell 1B
  4. 4 Ryan Jeffers C
  5. 5 Luke Keaschall 2B
  6. 6 Trevor Larnach LF
  7. 7 Brooks Lee SS
  8. 8 Ryan Kreidler CF
  9. 9 Tristan Gray 3B

Box score

  123456789 R
CIN 010100111 5
MIN 201010000 4

Manager comparison

Both managers grade B- / B entering this matchup.

AWAY · CIN
Terry Francona
B- Lineup 0.9 R Bunts 0.8 R IBBs 0.8 R
HOME · MIN
Derek Shelton
B Lineup 0.8 R Bunts 0.5 R IBBs 0.4 R

Recent form

AWAY · CIN
1-9 L8 -46 run diff
LLLLLLLLWL
HOME · MIN
3-7 L3 -21 run diff
LLLWWLLWLL

Season series: 3-0 with CIN 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 · Cincinnati Reds
  • Manager lineup cost −0.08 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.11 vs actual lineup 3.19
  • Player execution +1.81 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.19 projection by 1.81 (scored 5)
  • Game variance +1.89 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Friedl 0-for-4 batting 1st

HOME · Minnesota Twins
  • Manager lineup cost +0.04 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.79 vs actual lineup 4.74
  • Player execution −0.74 R/G Players fell 0.74 short of the lineup's 4.74 projection (scored 4)
  • Game variance −0.79 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Martin 0-for-4 batting 2nd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.1 – 4.8 — actual was 5 – 4.

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.