Rays-Rangers prediction: Picks, odds on Tuesday, July 18

The Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers are set to play the second game of their early-week series tonight. First pitch is scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET at Globe Life Field in Arlington, TX. Taj Bradley (5-5, 5.43 ERA) will get the start for the Rays while Nathan Eovaldi (10-3, 2.83 ERA) will go for the Rangers.

Texas enters the game as a -130 favorite on the moneyline over at DraftKings Sportsbook, while Tampa Bay is a +110 underdog. The run total is set at 8.5.

Rays-Rangers picks: Tuesday, July 18th

Injury report

Rays

Out: RP Josh Fleming (elbow), RP Andrew Kittredge (elbow)

Rangers

Out: RP Josh Sborz (bicep)

Starting pitchers

The rookie Bradley hit a wall prior to the All-Star break and he will look to start his second half of the season on the right foot tonight. Lasting just 12.1 innings combined over his previous three starts, he has been shelled for 22 hits and 16 earned runs, forcing manager Kevin Cash to turn to his bullpen early in those outings. The middle innings have really tripped up the young righty as opposing batters are collectively hitting .278 against him through their second trip through the lineup and .324 against him through their third trip.

Eovaldi is fresh off an appearance in the All-Star Game one week ago and will look to continue to build his AL Cy Young resume starting tonight. His outings prior to the break didn’t go as well as he’d hoped as the Rangers ended up losing three of his last four starts. He has held this current Rays lineup to just a collective .224 batting average for his career, so he’ll look to continue his success against them tonight.

Over/Under pick

Both of these clubs have not been producing runs at the clip they were earlier in the season, but 8.5 is a low enough bar for them to cross. As just mentioned, Bradley has been vulnerable to letting things snowball in the middle innings and Eovaldi hasn’t been totally bulletproof as of late either. I’ll predict a final score in the ballpark of 6-5.

Pick: Over 8.5

Moneyline pick

The vibes for this Rays team have been completely off for the last few weeks and that was perfectly exemplified with them losing on a walk-off wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth last night. Similar to last night’s series opener, I trust the Texas bats to come up with a few more clutch hits down the stretch than this Tampa Bay offense.