Philadelphia Phillies vs. Boston Red Sox MLB Picks, Odds, Predictions 7/9/2021

The Philadelphia Phillies and the Boston Red Sox meet in MLB action from Fenway Park on Friday night.

The Philadelphia Phillies will look to build on an 8-0 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Brad Miller led the charge by going 3 for 5 with three home runs and five RBIs while Didi Gregorius had a two-run home run as well as a double, going 3 for 5 at the dish. Jean Segura, Bryce Harper, Luke Williams, Odubel Herrera and Travis Jankowski all had base hits as well in the winning effort for the Phillies. Zach Eflin got the win to improve to 4-6 on the year after tossing six shutout innings, allowing just five hits while striking out five. Vince Velasquez will start here and is 3-3 with a 4.50 ERA and 75 strikeouts this season. In his career, Velasquez is 1-0 with a 4.91 ERA and 21 strikeouts against Boston.

The Boston Red Sox will attempt to rebound from a 5-4 loss at the hands of the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday. Zander Bogaerts went 3 for 4 with a pair of doubles and an RBI while Christian Arroyo had two hits and an RBI and Alex Verdugo and Bobby Dalbec each had RBIas well to cap off the scoring for the Red Sox in defeat. J.D. Martinez chipped in a triple while Christian Vazquez added a base hit of his own to finish off the offense for Boston in the losing effort. Eduardo Rodriguez allowed four runs on nine hits while striking out five over five innings of work, taking the loss to fall to 6-5 on the year. Garrett Richards will start here and is 4-5 with a 4.88 ERA and 69 strikeouts this season. This will be Richards’ second career start against Philadelphia.

Philadelphia is 4-1 in their last 5 series-opening games and 16-35 in their last 51 games as a road underdog while the over is 4-0 in their last 4 games overall. Boston is 8-0 in their last 8 home games and 10-1 in their last 11 Friday games while the under is 3-0-1 in their last 4 games as a favorite.

I’m having a hard time getting behind either one of these teams if we’re being honest as I don’t trust Vince Velasquez as far as I can throw him and Garrett Richards has been getting pummelled at Fenway as of late. Instead, I’m going to side with the over as I think this is a situation where both starters could end up getting chased very early on and I think we could have an offensive showcase brewing. Give me the over.