ARCHIVE May 4, 2026
May 4, 2026 · NL Cent

Cincinnati Reds vs Chicago Cubs

May 4, 2026Wrigley FieldPartly Cloudy 65°F · 4 mph, Out To CF
AWAY
Cincinnati Reds
20-15
4
vs
HOME
Chicago Cubs
23-12
5

Starting pitchers

AWAY · CIN
Chase Petty
Chase Petty
IP 5.2
HOME · CHC
Edward Cabrera
Edward Cabrera
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · CIN
  1. 1 TJ Friedl CF
  2. 2 JJ Bleday LF
  3. 3 Elly De La Cruz SS
  4. 4 Sal Stewart 2B
  5. 5 Nathaniel Lowe DH
  6. 6 Spencer Steer 1B
  7. 7 Tyler Stephenson C
  8. 8 Will Benson RF
  9. 9 Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B
HOME · CHC
  1. 1 Nico Hoerner 2B
  2. 2 Moisés Ballesteros DH
  3. 3 Alex Bregman 3B
  4. 4 Ian Happ LF
  5. 5 Seiya Suzuki RF
  6. 6 Michael Busch 1B
  7. 7 Carson Kelly C
  8. 8 Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
  9. 9 Dansby Swanson SS

Box score

  123456789 R
CIN 001200010 4
CHC 000300002 5

Manager comparison

Both managers grade B- / C entering this matchup.

AWAY · CIN
Terry Francona
B- Lineup 0.9 R Bunts 0.8 R IBBs 0.8 R
HOME · CHC
Craig Counsell
C Lineup 1.7 R Bunts 0.4 R IBBs 0.3 R

Recent form

AWAY · CIN
1-9 L8 -46 run diff
LLLLLLLLWL
HOME · CHC
10-0 W10 +27 run diff
WWWWWWWWWW

Season series: 0-4 with CIN 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 · Cincinnati Reds
  • Manager lineup cost +0.04 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.49 vs actual lineup 3.44
  • Player execution +0.56 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 3.44 projection by 0.56 (scored 4)
  • Game variance +0.51 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Hayes HR from the 9-hole

HOME · Chicago Cubs
  • Manager lineup cost +0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.39 vs actual lineup 4.30
  • Player execution +0.70 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.30 projection by 0.70 (scored 5)
  • Game variance +0.61 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Happ 0-for-3 batting 4th

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 3.5 – 4.4 — actual was 4 – 5.

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.