ARCHIVE April 28, 2026
April 28, 2026 · AL West

Kansas City Royals vs Oakland Athletics

April 28, 2026Sutter Health ParkClear 74°F · 3 mph, In From LF
AWAY
Kansas City Royals
12-17
4
vs
HOME
Oakland Athletics
15-14
1

Starting pitchers

AWAY · KC
Kris Bubic
Kris Bubic
IP 5
HOME · ATH
Aaron Civale
Aaron Civale
IP 5

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 Jac Caglianone RF
  6. 6 Lane Thomas LF
  7. 7 Isaac Collins DH
  8. 8 Nick Loftin 2B
  9. 9 Kyle Isbel CF
HOME · ATH
  1. 1 Jacob Wilson SS
  2. 2 Shea Langeliers C
  3. 3 Nick Kurtz 1B
  4. 4 Brent Rooker DH
  5. 5 Colby Thomas RF
  6. 6 Tyler Soderstrom LF
  7. 7 Zack Gelof CF
  8. 8 Darell Hernaiz 3B
  9. 9 Jeff McNeil 2B

Box score

  12345678910 R
KC 0000010003 4
ATH 0100000000 1

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 · ATH
Mark Kotsay
C- Lineup 2.6 R Bunts 1.1 R IBBs 1.1 R

Recent form

AWAY · KC
6-4 W1 +1 run diff
WLLWWWWWLL
HOME · ATH
5-5 W2 -1 run diff
WWLLWLLWWL

Season series: 1-2 with KC 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 · Kansas City Royals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.13 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.11 vs actual lineup 2.97
  • Player execution +1.03 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 2.97 projection by 1.03 (scored 4)
  • Game variance +0.89 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · Oakland Athletics
  • Manager lineup cost +0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.03 vs actual lineup 3.93
  • Player execution −2.93 R/G Players fell 2.93 short of the lineup's 3.93 projection (scored 1)
  • Game variance −3.03 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Kurtz 0-for-4 batting 3rd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.1 – 4.0 — actual was 4 – 1.

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.