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Cardinals vs Padres Odds and Picks – Wainwright vs Paddack (May 15)

John Perrotto

by John Perrotto in MLB Baseball

Updated May 15, 2021 · 9:35 AM PDT

Adam Wainwrigh and Yadier Molina fist bump
St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, right, is congratulated by catcher Yadier Molina after throwing a simulated inning during baseball practice at Busch Stadium Sunday, July 5, 2020, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
  • The San Diego Padres are -139 home favorites over the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday night at Petco Park
  • Chris Paddack (1-2, 4.78 ERA) is scheduled to pitch for the Padres against Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.80)
  • A breakdown of Cardinals-Padres with wagering advice can be found below

The short-handed San Diego Padres, who have five players on the COVID-19 injured list, will try to keep winning when they host the St. Louis Cardinals at 8:40pm ET Saturday at Petco Park.

Chris Paddack (1-3, 4.78) will pitch for the Padres against Adam Wainwright (2-3, 3.80).

The Padres (22-17) have won four of their last five games and are favored again. The last four have been without first baseman Eric Hosmer, shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr., right fielder Wil Myers and utility players Jurickson Profar and Jorge Mateo.

The Cardinals (23-16), who lead the National League Central, have dropped two of three games following a four-game winning streak.

Cardinals vs Padres Odds

Team Moneyline at DraftKings Runline Total
St. Louis Cardinals +120 +1.5 (-205) Over 7 (-114)
San Diego Padres -139 -1.5 (+170) Under 7 (-107)

Odds as of May 15th.

Wainwright is Ageless

The ageless Adam Wainwright is back on track for the Cardinals following a rocky start to the season.

The 39-year-old Wainwright has won his last two starts after going 0-3 in his first five, including nearly throwing a shutout in his last outing. He pitched 8.1 scoreless innings last Sunday to beat the Colorado Rockies, holding them to three hits while striking out five and walking three.

Wainwright and catcher Yadier Molina again proved that some old guys can still play.

Wainwright has also been a workhorse lately. He has pitched at least seven innings in three of his last four starts.

The Padres have had their struggles against Wainwright as he has a 7-4 lifetime record against them with a 2.19 ERA in 15 games, including 12 starts. In last year’s National League Wild Card Series, Wainwright held them to two runs in six innings in a no-decision.

Padres Career Stats vs Wainwright

Player AB H HR RBI K AVG
Trent Grisham 2 1 0 0 0 .500
Manny Machado 8 2 1 2 3 .250
Jake Cronenworth 0 0 0 0 0 —
Tommy Pham 0 0 0 0 0 —
Brian O’Grady 0 0 0 0 0 —
Austin Nola 0 0 0 0 0 —
Tucapita Marcano 0 0 0 0 0 —
Ha-Seong Kim 0 0 0 0 0 —

In addition to taking Wainwright deep, Padres third baseman Manny Machado has good career numbers against the Cardinals with a .338 batting average and nine home runs in 20 games.

Despite being shorthanded, the Padres have averaged 6.2 runs in their last five games, scoring a total of 31 times. San Diego’s 9.4% swinging strike rate is best in the NL.

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Paddack No Horse

Paddack will look to build off a short, yet successful start last Sunday against the San Francisco Giants when he pitched three scoreless innings. He was eased back into action after missing 11 days with an undisclosed injury.

Paddack scattered four hits and a walk while striking out four. He threw 53 pitches.

The 25-year-old has had a relatively light workload in six starts this season, as he has yet to pitch more than 5.1 innings. The brash Paddack is also winless in his last three starts with a 5.40 ERA, which makes the haters happy.

Paddack had the look of a future ace during his rookie season in 2019 when he went 9-7 with a 3.33 ERA in 26 starts. Yet, in the two seasons since, he is 5-8 with a 4.75 ERA in 18 starts.

As a rookie, Paddack faced the Cardinals twice and was outstanding with a 1-0 record and 0.93 ERA. However, they tagged him for six runs in 2.1 innings in a loss during the playoffs last year.

Cardinals Career Stats vs Paddack

Player AB H HR RBI K AVG
Tommy Edman 3 1 1 1 0 .333
Dylan Carlson 0 0 0 0 0 —
Paul Goldschmidt 5 0 0 0 2 .000
Nolan Arenado 6 4 1 2 0 .667
Yadier Molina 4 1 0 0 2 .250
Matt Carpenter 1 0 0 0 1 .000
Tyler O’Neill 1 0 0 0 1 .000
Harrison Bader 0 0 0 0 0 .000

The Cardinals have scored just 15 runs over their last five games. However, Nolan Arenado has been hot, going 8-for-22 (.364) during that span, and he has good career numbers against Paddack.

Tommy Edman has taken over as the Cardinals’ starting shortstop temporarily, moving from second base Friday when Paul DeJong went on the injured list with a non-displaced rib fracture. Matt Carpenter and Max Moroff are expected to platoon at second.

About Last Night

The Padres won 5-4 on Friday night in the opener of the three-game series. Winning pitcher Joe Musgrove held the Cardinals to one run in five innings despite giving up five hits and walking four.

Musgrove got help from his defense.

Mark Melancon worked the ninth for his MLB-leading 13th save in as many chances, allowing Arenado’s solo home run with two outs.

San Diego had only four hits but drew 12 walks against five Cardinals pitchers. Machado had two run-scoring hits, driving in Trent Grisham both times.

The Padres beat the Cardinals 2-1 in the NL Wild Card Series last year and won the season series in both 2018 and 2019, taking eight of 13 games.

However, look for Wainwright to help the Cardinals reverse this trend in this one.

The Pick: Cardinals (+120)

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