The Padres are dragging at what would seem to be the wrong time.

Maybe it will turn around. Virtually every team that has played in a World Series could look back at a stretch in the waning months of the regular season that they simply had to survive.

Maybe it won’t turn around. A five-game cushion with 16 games remaining is probably safe. But winning games will be necessary.

The Padres did not do that Wednesday and have not done it much for going on three weeks.

A shorthanded bullpen was the culprit in the end Wednesday, as the Reds scored twice in the eighth inning against Kyle Hart and Adrian Morejón and held on for a 2-1 victory.

Fernando Tatis Jr., Nick Pivetta and Ramón Laureano had put the Padres in position for a win.

The Padres got just five hits in seven innings against Red

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