ARCHIVE May 6, 2026
May 6, 2026 · AL Cent

Cleveland Guardians vs Kansas City Royals

May 6, 2026Kauffman StadiumClear 61°F · 3 mph, L To R
AWAY
Cleveland Guardians
19-19
3
vs
HOME
Kansas City Royals
17-20
1

Starting pitchers

AWAY · CLE
Joey Cantillo
Joey Cantillo
IP 5
HOME · KC
Cole Ragans
Cole Ragans
IP 3

Lineups

AWAY · CLE
  1. 1 Angel Martínez LF
  2. 2 Chase DeLauter DH
  3. 3 José Ramírez 3B
  4. 4 Rhys Hoskins 1B
  5. 5 David Fry RF
  6. 6 Daniel Schneemann 2B
  7. 7 Brayan Rocchio SS
  8. 8 Austin Hedges C
  9. 9 Petey Halpin CF
HOME · KC
  1. 1 Maikel Garcia 3B
  2. 2 Bobby Witt Jr. SS
  3. 3 Lane Thomas CF
  4. 4 Salvador Perez DH
  5. 5 Vinnie Pasquantino 1B
  6. 6 Starling Marte RF
  7. 7 Isaac Collins LF
  8. 8 Nick Loftin 2B
  9. 9 Elias Díaz C

Box score

  123456789 R
CLE 000020010 3
KC 001000000 1

Manager comparison

Both managers grade C+ / C entering this matchup.

AWAY · CLE
Stephen Vogt
C+ Lineup 1.5 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.4 R
HOME · KC
Matt Quatraro
C Lineup 1.9 R Bunts 1.1 R IBBs 0.8 R

Recent form

AWAY · CLE
6-4 W3 +7 run diff
WWWLLLWWWL
HOME · KC
6-4 W1 +1 run diff
WLLWWWWWLL

Season series: 3-2 with CLE listed first across 5 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 · Cleveland Guardians
  • Manager lineup cost +0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.33 vs actual lineup 4.24
  • Player execution −1.24 R/G Players fell 1.24 short of the lineup's 4.24 projection (scored 3)
  • Game variance −1.33 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Lineup spots out of order vs season production

HOME · Kansas City Royals
  • Manager lineup cost +0.10 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 3.49 vs actual lineup 3.39
  • Player execution −2.39 R/G Players fell 2.39 short of the lineup's 3.39 projection (scored 1)
  • Game variance −2.49 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Jr. 0-for-4 batting 2nd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.3 – 3.5 — actual was 3 – 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.