Picks, predictions for Phillies vs. Rays on Thursday, July 6

The Philadelphia Phillies (46-39) will look to complete the three-game sweep of the Tampa Bay Rays (57-32) on Thursday night. First pitch is scheduled for 6:40 p.m. ET from Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The Rays are -135 moneyline favorites on DraftKings Sportsbook, making the Phillies +115 underdogs with the over/under set at nine.

Phillies-Rays picks: Thursday, July 6th

Injury report

Phillies

Out: SP Noah Song (back), RP Seranthony Dominguez (oblique), 1B Rhys Hoskins (knee)

Rays

Out: SP Shane McClanahan (back), RP Josh Fleming (elbow), SP Drew Rasmussen (elbow), RP Garrett Cleavinger (knee), SP Jeffrey Springs (elbow), SP Shane Baz (elbow), RP Andrew Kittredge (elbow)

Starting pitchers

Cristopher Sanchez vs. Shawn Armstrong

Cristopher Sanchez (0-2, 3.26 ERA) will make his fifth start of the season and his fourth since being called up last month. Sanchez is coming off a strong outing where he gave up two runs (one earned) on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts over six innings of work in a loss to the Washington Nationals.

Shawn Armstrong (0-0, 1.15 ERA) will make his 13th appearance and second start of 2023. He hasn’t thrown more than two innings in a game this season, so expect a short outing and plenty of bullpen arms to be used on Thursday night.

Over/Under pick

It’s difficult to know what to expect from the pitchers in this matchup with a limited 2023 sample size from Sanchez and a Rays team that may use plenty of throwers in this spot. Let’s go with the hitters to outperform expectations as both lineups rank inside the top-8 in slugging percentage.

Pick: Over 9

Moneyline pick

If we’re going to side with the hitters in this spot, we may as well go with the lineup that has been playing better to this point of the season. The Rays rank inside the top-4 in runs per game, slugging percentage, on-base percentage and OPS in 2023. Let’s side with the favorites.

Pick: Rays