Padres keep hope alive

Reporting from San Francisco

The San Diego Padres aren’t dead yet.

Their pulse may be weak, their breathing shallow and their vision fading. But with two days left in the regular season, their postseason hopes are still alive.

Needing a three-game sweep of San Francisco to keep their National League West pennant hopes from expiring, the formerly punchless Padres got their weekend started by jumping on Giants starter Matt Cain early and often in a 6-4 win that extended their season at least one more day.

Needing a Philadelphia win over the Braves in Atlanta to keep their wild-card backup plan alive, the Padres got that, too, with the Phillies banging out 13 hits in an 11-5 victory.

So while the Padres’ situation is far from hopeful, it’s not hopeless, either.

“We’re in a little different spot,” San Diego Manager Bud Black said. “Hey, listen, in professional sports, late in the year, when you’re contending it’s good stuff. Whether you call it pressure or whatever you call it, this is where you want to be.

“Every day’s a test. Tomorrow’s another test for the teams that are still vying for a playoff spot.”

Or as Jeff Moorad, the team’s vice chairman, said as he left the clubhouse Friday night, “There’s nothing better than meaningful baseball games the last weekend of the year.”

Friday’s stay of elimination makes the Padres’ path to the postseason only slightly less daunting, though. They still have to beat the Giants two more times. And they’ll still be cheering for the Braves to lose at least one more to the Phillies.

Even that combination would only produce a three-way tie for the league’s final two postseason berths, setting up a pair of playoff games next week and forcing San Diego into another must-win situation.

“Every out is super, super important,” Black said.

The Padres were never expected to find themselves in this position, of course. Five weeks ago they had the best record in the National League and a 6½-game edge in the division race. But they’ve lost 22 of 35 games since.

The offense, which has struggled most of the season, really hit the skids in September, hitting .229 — better than just two big league teams – and averaging less than 2.9 runs a game, lowest in the league.

That changed on the first day of October.

Ryan Ludwick got things started for San Diego in the second inning with a leadoff homer off of Cain, and an inning later Adrian Gonzalez, slowed lately by a sore shoulder, hit a two-out, two-strike homer with two on.

Another solo home run — this one by surprise starter Matt Stairs in the fourth — made it 5-0 and an inning later San Diego knocked Cain out with back-to-back singles to start the fifth. That marked the first time since May that Cain failed to log more than four innings pitched. And when David Eckstein, the first of those runners, scored on a wild pitch by reliever Dan Runzler, it marked the first time since the All-Star break that Cain had allowed six earned runs.

San Diego starter Clayton Richard lasted just four outs longer before turning a three-run lead over to the best bullpen in baseball, one that was leading the majors in ERA (2.81).

A succession of five Padres relievers was hardly unhittable on this night, however. Twice in the final four innings the Giants got the go-ahead run to the plate before closer Heath Bell came on to get the final four outs to register his 46th save, thanks in no small part to a baserunning gaffe by Freddy Sanchez, who was doubled off first on Aubrey Huff’s line out into the right-field corner in the ninth.

Now the Padres have to do it all over again Saturday.

“Yes,” Black said without a hint of a smile. “We need to win.”

kevin.baxter@latimes.com

Staff writer Phil Willon contributed to this report.