SAN DIEGO — The Padres want to believe it still matters, that the season-high four consecutive victories at the end of their just-completed road trip could be the start of a historic run to the postseason.

“We’ve believed all along, and we’re going to continue to do that,” Manny Machado said Monday afternoon. “And I think we’ve kind of crossed a little hurdle that we’ve been trying to climb, you know, getting the win streak going. And it’s better late than never. So continue playing, continue doing what we can. It’s a tough task moving forward, but we’re capable of doing it. We’ve dealt with some adversity all year. So just keep leaving it on the field until the end.”

They know playing beyond the regular season is highly unlikely. They entered Monday six games out of the National League’s final playoff spot with 12 games remaining.

Regardless, they say it is important to not sputter to the finish. And in the opener of a series against the team with the NL’s worst record, they continued to roll.

A three-run homer by Luis Campusano, a two-run homer by Garrett Cooper and a solo homer by Eguy Rosario helped power the Padres to an 11-9 victory over the Rockies at Petco Park.

The teams traded leads in four consecutive half-innings near the start of the game.

The Padres trailed 1-0 after the top of the second inning, led 2-1 at the end of the second, trailed 3-2 after the top of the third and led 5-3 at the end of the third.

That was the last of the back and forth.

Michael Wacha set the Rockies down in order in the fourth and fifth, and the Padres led 11-3 by the time the sixth inning began.

The Rockies scored twice in the sixth inning off Nick Hernandez, twice in the eighth off Tom Cosgrove and two runs off Luis Garcia in the ninth. Josh Hader allowed the hit that scored that final run before getting the final out, with two runners on, for his 30th save.

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