SAN DIEGO — Robbie Ray could have never left San Diego.

The veteran left-hander, who four days ago held the Padres to one run over six innings at Petco Park, is now set to join the team.

The Padres agreed to a trade with the San Francisco Giants on Monday that at least partially fills the Padres’ desperate need for help in their starting rotation by adding a pitcher who has been among the major leagues’ best over the past two months.

The Padres are sending the Giants two of their top 10 prospects in return, and the Giants are assuming half of the $7.4 million remaining on Ray’s 2026 salary.

The 34-year-old Ray, the American League Cy Young winner in 2021 with the Toronto Blue Jays, will be a free agent after this season.

Now Ray will pitch for the Padres in Arizona, likely Tuesday or Wednesday, against the team that employed him from 2015 to ‘20.

Ray’s 1.09 ERA is tied for best in the major leagues since June 16, a span of eight games and seven starts.

The first of those games was 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Braves after he entered following an opener. Ray followed that by throwing eight scoreless innings in back-to-back starts, against the Athletics and Braves and has gone at least six innings in four of his six starts since then.

That included a game the Padres did not have to go far to scout.

Craig Stammen and some players noted that Ray, whose 22 starts against the Padres are tied for second most among active pitchers, was not as sharp as they had seen him. Yet he held what has been one of the major leagues’ top offenses over the past month-plus to four hits, a walk and a hit batter while throwing 86 pitches in six innings.

The Padres recently moved three of their starting pitchers to what essentially became an 11-man bullpen, leaving Michael King and Walker Buehler as their only traditional starters.

Germán Márquez, JP Sears and Randy Vásquez have helped the Padres win five of the seven games in which they have deployed their expanded bullpen. But the stratagem is not considered sustainable because of how it leaves the staff vulnerable if things veer too far off plan.

The team is believed to be open to adding another starter, though most people in the organization had talked about adding one starter and trying to upgrade their offense with a left-handed bat.

There has been much talk about the Padres’ farm system, depleted by a slew of big trades the past several years, would hinder them in their quest to upgrade at this deadline. Members of the front office confidently maintained they had the prospect capital to get done what they needed to.

To get Ray, they will send the Giants right-handed pitcher Miguel Mendez and shortstop Joniel Hernandez.

Mendez, 24, was ranked as their No.4 prospect by MLB.com. He has been pitching for Low-A Lake Elsinore.

Hernandez, 17, was their ninth-ranked prospect. He has played in the Dominican Summer League.

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