It was this simple: Padres hitters weren’t good enough Tuesday afternoon in Game 1 of the best-of-three Wild Card Series.

And making the 3-1 road loss more concerning , the inadequate offense wasn’t surprising from a unit that ranked 18th of 30 major league teams in runs scored this season.

The Padres hit no home runs on a warm day at Wrigley Field. That’s no way to begin a World Series tournament in today’s home run era.

More bothersome was this: Up 1-0 thanks to consecutive doubles by Jackson Merrill and Xander Bogaerts in the second inning, the Padres twice had a runner on third base with fewer than two out but didn’t score.

For reasons beyond the obvious, the Padres had to get each of those runners home.

One, hitting conditions worsened due to ballpark shadows encroaching upon h

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