SAN FRANCISCO — Sometimes all it takes is just enough.
Sometimes that is what it takes on three straight days.
The Padres on Wednesday afternoon earned their first sweep in more than two months, barely.
A 5-4 victory over the Giants at Oracle Park came at the end of a game in which Joe Musgrove was untouchable for a time and then suddenly wasn’t and in which the Padres would hit for a time and then suddenly wouldn’t.
When it was done, a Giants comeback had fallen just short against the Padres’ bullpen for the third time in three tries, this time with previously deposed closer Josh Hader getting the save — his first as a Padre, a full 30 days after he was acquired from Milwaukee.
The three-game sweep was the Padres’ second of the season here, something they had never done in this city. It was also their first sweep since taking three against the Diamondbacks at Petco Park from June 20-22. They had been 0-5 with a chance to secure a sweep in the final game of a series since then.
The Padres are 5-1 on a road trip that pauses Thursday before concluding with three games at Dodger Stadium. With 30 games remaining in the season, the Padres maintained their 2 1/2-game lead over the Brewers in the quest to secure the National League’s final playoff spot and moved into a virtual tie with the Phillies for the No. 5 seed. (The Brewers have three more games to play than the Padres, and the Phillies will have one more after their game at Arizona on Wednesday night.)
Manny Machado drove in three runs, putting the Padres up 1-0 with a single in the fourth inning and 4-0 with a two-run double in the fifth. They would go up 5-0 on Jake Cronenworth’s sacrifice fly in the sixth.
And yet they probably felt a little disappointment, as they had runners at first and second with no outs and scored once in the fourth, runners at second and third with no outs and scored once in the sixth and a runner on second with no outs and failed to score in the eighth.
Musgrove, who allowed three hits and struck out a season-high 11 in 6 2/3 innings, had his command falter in the sixth, but what he and the offense did was enough for him to be rewarded with his first win in a dozen games.
The Padres embarked on this trip having failed to score more than three runs in six consecutive games. They had done so, in fact, just eight times in their previous 24 games.
They have scored at least four runs in every game since leaving home.
They were 4 for 38 (.105) with runners in scoring position during their six-game homestand.
They are 21 for 54 (.389) in their five games since, though Wednesday’s 3 for 11 performance made the game closer than it might have been.
And after seeing all but one run of sizable leads disappear in the first two games here this week, the Padres once again needed all of their five-run advantage.
Musgrove struck out nine batters and was still through five innings on 56 pitches. The only hit he had allowed came on a grounder by Tommy Lastella that caromed off second base in the third inning.
A double play eliminated LaStella, and Musgrove had faced the minimum 16 batters before walking Luis Gonzalez with one out in the sixth. Austin Wynns’ double down the line in left field scored Gonzalez before Musgrove struck out the next two batters to reach a season-high 11 for the game.
A walk and two hit batters loaded the bases against Musgrove in the seventh, and a fielder’s choice grounder brought in a run before a soft lineout. Gonzalez’s single made it 5-3 and ended Musgrove’s day.
Adrian Morejón struck out Wynns to end the inning.
After the Padres wasted Brandon Drury’s leadoff double in the top of the eighth, Evan Longoria lined a one-out double off Morejón in the bottom of the inning and scored on Joc Pederson’s two-out single. Luis Garcia replaced Morejón and struck out J.D. Davis.
In their sixth game in six days and with Nick Martinez having closed out one-run victories, the previous two nights, Bob Melvin turned to Hader.
The left-hander had allowed 12 runs in his past five appearances and been relegated to lower-leverage situations.
After a flared single by Thairo Estrada began the ninth, Hader retired three straight batters.
