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The San Diego Padres and Philadelphia Phillies square off on Wednesday with first pitch set for 6:35 p.m. EST. The game takes place at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and will only be available on local TV or through an MLB.tv subscription. Blake Snell will be on the hill for the visitors while Philly will send Zack Wheeler to the mound.
He’s back! One of the members of the Padres star-studded pitching rotation, Snell, returns to the diamond for the first time this season after dealing with a groin injury. Though he hasn’t touched the mound yet this year, he’s still expected to be a very solid hurler for the Friars. Though since he hasn’t tossed in a while, throwing just 59 pitches in a rehab start last week, he could have a pretty light workload tonight just to ease him back into things at the Big League level. His team won the first game of this series 3-0 on Tuesday and have won six of their last 10 games and sit just one game back of the Dodgers in the NL West.
The Phillies aren’t nearly as close to first place as the Padres are, sitting six games behind the New York Mets in the NL East. Still, they’ve been solid lately winning six of their last 10 games as well, even taking three of four from the Dodgers. They’ve lost their last two games by a combined score of 4-8, though, so the bats need to get going soon. Wheeler has struggled a bit this season, allowing 15 earned runs in 32.1 innings, though he’s allowed just three in his last 19 innings pitched while striking out 21 in that span. Bryce Harper has been on an absolute tear recently, earning 14 hits, including three straight games with a home run, in his last six games.
Padres vs. Phillies
Pitchers: Blake Snell vs. Zack Wheeler
First pitch: 6:35 p.m. EST
Phillies local broadcast: MLB Extra Innings
Padres local broadcast: Bally Sports San Diego
Live stream: MLB.tv (subscription)
Moneyline odds: Phillies -150, Padres +130
Picks & predictions
Moneyline pick: Phillies -150
Snell is coming back into the fold, which is a net positive for the Padres. Still, it’s likely he’s going to get a light workload to ease him back into Major League Action. That’s likely to help Philly see a bunch of arms in the bullpen and have guys like Harper continue to do damage as he has recently.
Player prop pick: J.T. Realmuto over 0.5 hits (-165)
Snell is making his season debut and may have some rust to shake off in this start. J.T. Realmuto has gone hitless in his last three games but is due at the plate. He hasn’t ever faced Snell but has the preferred handedness matchup. I think Realmuto gets off this cold streak and picks up at least one hit.
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