ARCHIVE April 29, 2026
April 29, 2026 · NL Cent

St. Louis Cardinals vs Pittsburgh Pirates

April 29, 2026PNC ParkOvercast 57°F · 7 mph, Out To CF
AWAY
St. Louis Cardinals
17-13
5
vs
HOME
Pittsburgh Pirates
16-15
4

Starting pitchers

AWAY · STL
Andre Pallante
Andre Pallante
IP 6
HOME · PIT
Bubba Chandler
Bubba Chandler
IP 5

Lineups

AWAY · STL
  1. 1 JJ Wetherholt 2B
  2. 2 Iván Herrera C
  3. 3 Alec Burleson 1B
  4. 4 Jordan Walker RF
  5. 5 Nolan Gorman DH
  6. 6 Masyn Winn SS
  7. 7 Nathan Church LF
  8. 8 Ramón Urías 3B
  9. 9 Victor Scott CF
HOME · PIT
  1. 1 Oneil Cruz CF
  2. 2 Brandon Lowe 2B
  3. 3 Bryan Reynolds LF
  4. 4 Ryan O'Hearn RF
  5. 5 Marcell Ozuna DH
  6. 6 Nick Gonzales 3B
  7. 7 Spencer Horwitz 1B
  8. 8 Konnor Griffin SS
  9. 9 Joey Bart C

Box score

  123456789 R
STL 001020200 5
PIT 000010210 4

Manager comparison

Both managers grade B- / C- entering this matchup.

AWAY · STL
Oliver Marmol
B- Lineup 1.2 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.3 R
HOME · PIT
Don Kelly
C- Lineup 2.3 R Bunts 0.3 R IBBs 0.8 R

Recent form

AWAY · STL
7-2 W1 +13 run diff
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HOME · PIT
5-5 W2 +1 run diff
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Season series: 4-0 with STL 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 · St. Louis Cardinals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.01 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.47 vs actual lineup 4.47
  • Player execution +0.53 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.47 projection by 0.53 (scored 5)
  • Game variance +0.53 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · Pittsburgh Pirates
  • Manager lineup cost +0.04 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.88 vs actual lineup 3.83
  • Player execution +0.17 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.83 projection by 0.17 (scored 4)
  • Game variance +0.12 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Cruz 0-for-4 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.5 – 3.9 — 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.