ARCHIVE May 7, 2026
May 7, 2026 · NL Cent

Cincinnati Reds vs Chicago Cubs

May 7, 2026Wrigley FieldPartly Cloudy 54°F · 8 mph, R To L
AWAY
Cincinnati Reds
20-18
3
vs
HOME
Chicago Cubs
26-12
8

Starting pitchers

AWAY · CIN
Rhett Lowder
Rhett Lowder
IP 3
HOME · CHC
Shota Imanaga
Shota Imanaga
IP 6

Lineups

AWAY · CIN
  1. 1 Dane Myers CF
  2. 2 Matt McLain SS
  3. 3 Elly De La Cruz DH
  4. 4 Sal Stewart 2B
  5. 5 Spencer Steer 1B
  6. 6 Tyler Stephenson C
  7. 7 JJ Bleday LF
  8. 8 Blake Dunn 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 Michael Busch 1B
  6. 6 Michael Conforto RF
  7. 7 Dansby Swanson SS
  8. 8 Pete Crow-Armstrong CF
  9. 9 Miguel Amaya C

Box score

  123456789 R
CIN 000001011 3
CHC 010700000 8

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 −0.02 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 2.79 vs actual lineup 2.81
  • Player execution +0.19 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 2.81 projection by 0.19 (scored 3)
  • Game variance +0.21 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Dunn HR from the 8-hole

HOME · Chicago Cubs
  • Manager lineup cost +0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.90 vs actual lineup 4.80
  • Player execution +3.20 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.80 projection by 3.20 (scored 8)
  • Game variance +3.10 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Ballesteros 0-for-4 batting 2nd

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 2.8 – 4.9 — actual was 3 – 8.

GAME INSIGHTS
  • Spencer Steer extends hit streak to 10 games
    Spencer Steer (CIN) has a hit in 10 consecutive games — past the 10-game watermark.

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.