FINAL May 8, 2026
May 8, 2026 · NL Cent

Houston Astros vs Cincinnati Reds

May 8, 2026Great American Ball ParkPartly Cloudy 67°F · 10 mph, R To L
AWAY
Houston Astros
16-23
10
vs
HOME
Cincinnati Reds
20-19
0

Starting pitchers

AWAY · HOU
Mike Burrows
Mike Burrows
IP 7
HOME · CIN
Nick Lodolo
Nick Lodolo
IP 5.1

Lineups

AWAY · HOU
  1. 1 Jose Altuve 2B
  2. 2 Yordan Alvarez DH
  3. 3 Isaac Paredes 3B
  4. 4 Christian Walker 1B
  5. 5 Cam Smith RF
  6. 6 Brice Matthews CF
  7. 7 Zach Dezenzo LF
  8. 8 Christian Vázquez C
  9. 9 Nick Allen SS
HOME · CIN
  1. 1 TJ Friedl CF
  2. 2 JJ Bleday LF
  3. 3 Elly De La Cruz SS
  4. 4 Sal Stewart 1B
  5. 5 Nathaniel Lowe DH
  6. 6 Spencer Steer RF
  7. 7 Tyler Stephenson C
  8. 8 Matt McLain 2B
  9. 9 Ke'Bryan Hayes 3B

Box score

  123456789 R
HOU 020002015 10
CIN 000000000 0

Manager comparison

Both managers grade D+ / B- entering this matchup.

AWAY · HOU
Joe Espada
D+ Lineup 2.8 R Bunts 0.7 R IBBs 0.4 R
HOME · CIN
Terry Francona
B- Lineup 0.9 R Bunts 0.8 R IBBs 0.8 R

Recent form

AWAY · HOU
5-4 W1 -2 run diff
WLWLWWLLW?
HOME · CIN
1-9 L8 -46 run diff
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Season series: 1-0 with HOU listed first across 1 prior meeting.

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 · Houston Astros
  • Manager lineup cost +0.06 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.73 vs actual lineup 4.67
  • Player execution +5.33 R/G Players exceeded the lineup's 4.67 projection by 5.33 (scored 10)
  • Game variance +5.27 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Cole HR from the 7-hole

HOME · Cincinnati Reds
  • Manager lineup cost −0.09 R/G Optimal arrangement projects 4.77 vs actual lineup 4.86
  • Player execution −4.86 R/G Players fell 4.86 short of the lineup's 4.86 projection (scored 0)
  • Game variance −4.77 R/G Total game outcome vs optimal expectation

Friedl 0-for-4 batting 1st

COUNTERFACTUAL

Optimal lineups projected 4.7 – 4.8 — actual was 10 – 0.

GAME INSIGHTS

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.