ARCHIVE April 20, 2026
April 20, 2026 · AL Cent

Houston Astros vs Cleveland Guardians

April 20, 2026Progressive FieldClear 39°F · 3 mph, In From LF
AWAY
Houston Astros
9-15
9
vs
HOME
Cleveland Guardians
13-11
2

Starting pitchers

AWAY · HOU
Spencer Arrighetti
Spencer Arrighetti
IP 5
HOME · CLE
Slade Cecconi
Slade Cecconi
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · HOU
  1. 1 Carlos Correa SS
  2. 2 Yordan Alvarez DH
  3. 3 Jose Altuve 2B
  4. 4 Christian Walker 1B
  5. 5 Isaac Paredes 3B
  6. 6 Taylor Trammell CF
  7. 7 Yainer Diaz C
  8. 8 Dustin Harris RF
  9. 9 Brice Matthews LF
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 George Valera LF
  7. 7 Juan Brito 2B
  8. 8 Bo Naylor C
  9. 9 Brayan Rocchio SS

Box score

  123456789 R
HOU 200410101 9
CLE 101000000 2

Manager comparison

Both managers grade D+ / C+ entering this matchup.

AWAY · HOU
Joe Espada
D+ Lineup 2.8 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.4 R
HOME · CLE
Stephen Vogt
C+ Lineup 1.5 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.4 R

Recent form

AWAY · HOU
5-4 W1 -2 run diff
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HOME · CLE
6-4 W3 +7 run diff
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Season series: 2-1 with HOU 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 · Houston Astros
  • Manager lineup cost −0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.82 vs actual lineup 4.91
  • Player execution +4.09 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.91 projection by 4.09 (scored 9)
  • Game variance +4.18 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Altuve 0-for-5 batting 3rd

HOME · Cleveland Guardians
  • Manager lineup cost −0.01 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 2.45 vs actual lineup 2.46
  • Player execution −0.46 R/G Players fell 0.46 short of the lineup's 2.46 projection (scored 2)
  • Game variance −0.45 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Kwan 0-for-4 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.8 – 2.5 — actual was 9 – 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.