The Padres are less than thrilled starting Chris Paddack in this series opener. They wanted to go with Dinelson Lamet, but he left his last start this past Friday with tightness in his biceps. 
San Diego is worried about Paddack's lack of consistency. They have good reason to feel this way since Paddack has surrendered four or more runs while not reaching the sixth inning in four of his last eight starts. 
The Cardinals are starting Kwang Hyun Kim instead of ace Jack Flaherty. I understand the thinking behind this. Kim is a lefty, who the Padres have never faced. The Padres are 27-13 against righthanders, but just 10-10 versus southpaws. Kim is no slouch either going 3-0 this season with a 1.62 ERA and 1.03 WHIP. 
The Padres are averaging 3.7 runs in their last nine games. Paddack could be on or off. So I'm going to take the extra half-run and lay juice believing this has the makings of a 4-3 type game.