SAN DIEGO — Big hits.

Not a lot of hits. But a couple of the hits they needed.

Those were lacking on Monday and Tuesday. The Padres got them on Wednesday.

The Pirates did not.

Again and again, Padres pitchers escaped messes to preserve the slim lead they had been given early on, and they held on to win the finale of a three-game series against the Pirates 3-0.

The Padres lost the first two games of the series — 3-2 in 12 innings on Monday and 1-0 on Tuesday.

They stretched their scoreless streak to 14 innings before taking their first lead of the series in Wednesday’s second inning.

That is when Jackson Merrill doubled and scored on Luis Rengifo’s single. Merrill’s triple drove in Manny Machado from first base in the fourth. And Jake Cronenworth provided more cushion with an RBI double in the eighth.

And somehow, five Padres pitchers navigated a winding path through nine innings without Adrian Morejón or Mason Miller available to close out the game due to their recent heavy workload.

At the end, Bradgley Rodriguez worked the eighth and ninth innings to earn the second save of his career.

Throughout, it was a whole lot of stress.

Starting pitcher Randy Vásquez got out of trouble in the fourth. Kyle Hart got out of trouble in the sixth. Yuki Matsui got Griffin Canning out of trouble in the seventh. Rodriguez got out of trouble in the eighth.

It was about as tension-filled as a game in August can get.

Adding to the consequence: As the seventh inning was starting at Petco Park, the Diamondbacks were completing a 2-0 victory over the Cubs in Phoenix. So the Padres had to win in order to maintain their one-game lead in the race for the final National League wild-card spot with 28 games remaining.

Vásquez retired the first nine batters he faced for the second straight start

He had gotten seven ground-ball outs and been ahead against almost every batter.

Then he lost his command and his focus, and he reverted to traffic cop, managing robust traffic on the bases.

He threw almost as many pitches in the fourth inning (27) as he had in the first three perfect innings combined (31). He threw more balls (14) than he had previously (nine).

But after a single and a four-pitch walk, he got the first two outs, issued a carefully pitched walk to Oneil Cruz and then struck out Nick Gonzales to leave the bases loaded.

Vásquez then breezed through the fifth inning on 10 pitches, retiring all three batters on groundouts.

Even though he was at 68 pitches, Padres manager Craig Stammen went to the left-handed Hart to face the two left-handed-hitting batters and switch-hitting Bryan Reynolds at the top of the Pirates order in the sixth.

Spencer Horwitz lined a single over second base, and Brandon Lowe walked before Reynolds lined a ball up the middle at 105 mph off his bat that Jake Cronenworth dove to catch. A grounder to shortstop by Esmerlyn Valdez got the second out at second base, and with runners at the corner, Cruz flied out to center field to end the threat.

Canning took over to start the seventh inning and walked a batter a hit a batter before getting a strikeout and being replaced by Matsui.

The lefty yielded an infield single to pinch-hitter Jared Triolo that loaded the bases before striking out Horwitz and Lowe.

It got wild again in the eighth, Reynolds and Valdez greeted Rodriguez with singles to left field before the rookie struck out Cruz and Gonzales and ended the inning by getting a fielder’s choice grounder from Jake Mangum.

Rodriguez worked a 1-2-3 ninth in 12 pitches.

The Pirates finished the series 2 for 30 with runners in scoring position after going 1 for 13 Wednesday. The Padres were 3 for 5 with runners in scoring position Wednesday 4 for 25 in the series.

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