Padres @ Cardinals

Who will WIN this matchup?

San Diego Padres (4-3)

@ St. Louis Cardinals (3-3)

Starting Pitchers:

Margevicius (SD): 0-1; 1.80 ERA

Flaherty (STL) 0-0; 8.31 ERA

Last 10 Games Played:

San Diego Padres: 4-3

St. Louis Cardinals: 3-3

Current odds:

San Diego Padres: (+160)

St. Louis Cardinals: (-175)

• After collecting five singles in his first 27 plate appearances, Manny Machado finally announced his arrival for the San Diego Padres with a two-run blast in Wednesday’s 4-1 victory over Arizona. Machado appears to be settling in fine with his new team, which begins an 10-game road trip Friday with the first of three games against the St. Louis Cardinals. Second baseman Kolten Wong is 10-for-21 with three homers and six RBIs for St. Louis, which was scheduled to play its home opener Thursday but had the game pushed back a day because of weather concerns. The Cardinals went 3-3 on their season-opening road trip but have some concern about outfielder Marcell Ozuna, who was scratched from the lineup with side tightness before Wednesday’s 10-inning, 5-4 win over Pittsburgh and was scheduled for an MRI on Thursday.

• San Diego opened the season by taking three of four from San Francisco but dropped two straight to Arizona before winning Wednesday’s series finale. Outfielder Hunter Renfroe had two homers in Tuesday’s contest and could see more playing time over slugger Franmil Reyes, who went 0-for-2 from the cleanup spot on Wednesday and has one hit in his first 16 at-bats.

• Margevicius made an impressive major league debut Saturday against San Francisco, allowing one run and three hits in five-plus innings. “He was great,” manager Andy Green told reporters. “Really good first outing in the big leagues. He had a very intelligent approach to the hitters. Outstanding first effort.” The 22-year-old posted a 3.60 ERA between Low-A Fort Wayne and High-A Lake Elsinore last year before making one postseason start with Double-A San Antonio.

• Flaherty is looking to bounce back following a rough season debut against Milwaukee on Saturday, when he gave up four runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings. The 23-year-old native of Southern California owns a 3.35 ERA in 15 career games (14 starts) at home compared to a 4.20 mark in 20 road starts. Machado is 0-for-5 with three strikeouts against Flaherty, who is 1-0 with a 1.59 ERA in two career starts against San Diego.

• San Diego went 4-3 against St. Louis last season – including 2-1 at Busch Stadium.

• St. Louis OF Jose Martinez started in place of Ozuna on Wednesday and was hitless in five at-bats.

• Padres OF Wil Myers started in center field Wednesday for the first time since 2015 and went 1-for-4 with an error.