CINCINNATI — A miserable road trip ended on a miserable day with some miserable play.

The Padres began hot on a stifling Midwest afternoon but faded quickly, around the time Casey Mize allowed four runs in the second inning of what became a 7-3 loss to the Reds.

“We put up three, and I gave them right back in the second,” Mize said. So that’s pretty tough. … Our offense was doing a good job of getting to their guy, and I kind of gave him back the momentum.”

The Padres lost the series here against the last-place team in the National League Central after being swept in St. Petersburg, Fla., by the Rays, the team with the American League’s best record.

“It was a tough trip,” Ty France said of the 1-5 trek. “A lot of good baseball. Just coming up short. Unfortunately, it’s the wrong time of year to do that, but there’s nothing we can do about it now.”

Except play better.

“It’s go time,” France said. “There’s nothing else you can really say about it except we need to play our best baseball now and start winning these games.”

The offense’s lack of execution in big moments is impossible to overlook. But the Padres’ problems began with Mize being unable to locate his pitches where he wanted them in the strike zone.

“Just some bad execution,” said Mize, who has allowed at least four runs in four of his six starts since he was acquired at the trade deadline.

Mize was throwing Wednesday to Ethan Salas, who became the youngest catcher to make his major league debut since Hall of Famer Ivan Rodriguez did so at 19 in 1991 while playing for the Rangers.

Salas, who turned 20 in June, went 0 for 4. Mize complimented the young catcher’s game calling.

“Wish today could have gone better for us so he could enjoy it a little bit more,” Miza said. “But better days ahead.”

Salas has several years to thrive. The Padres are wasting precious portions of 2026.

They headed home Wednesday evening and will play again Friday, when they open a three-game series against the Yankees. There are 22 games remaining in the regular season, and the Padres will either be a half-game up or a half-game behind in the race for the National League’s final wild-card spot when they play next. That is dependent on how the Diamondbacks fare against the Phillies on Wednesday afternoon.

Whatever their standing by day’s end, this trip will seem like one big missed opportunity, as the Padres lost four games by one run. Two of those losses came in games in which they led by three runs, another after they had a two-run lead with two outs in the ninth. In the six games, the Padres hit .151 (8-for-53) with runners in scoring position.

Wednesday’s start was strong.

They took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Fernando Tatis Jr.’s leadoff single and France’s two-out home run and added a run in the second inning when Austin Hays led off with a double and Tatis singled with two outs.

But a 3-0 advantage became a 4-3 deficit in a flash.

Mize, who has been plagued by the big inning in his time with the Padres, allowed three runs before getting an out in the second inning on a walk, a single and a homer run by Juan Brito and then another run on Héctor Rodríguez’s two-out homer.

Both of the home runs barely cleared the wall. Neither went as far as Salas’ 390-foot fly ball out to center field in his first at-bat, and Brito’s homer was the same projected distance of 360 feet as the Jackson Merrill fly ball that left fielder JJ Bleday caught before running into the wall to end the second inning.

“I feel like we’re two swings away from busting it open,” Merrill said. “… Mine blows it open. Salas hit the ball well. That ball carries a little more, it blows the game open. Thats’ just how it went.”

Those are the breaks a struggling team seems to have to endure.

And that inning by the Reds seemed to break the Padres’ will on an oppressively still 95 degree day in which there were at least twice as many empty seats at Great American Ball Park as there were seats occupied by roasting souls.

“The four-run inning that we gave up took a little bit of the wind out of the sails, it felt like,” Padres manager Craig Stammen said. “And (it was) hard to come back from that.”

France led off the third inning with a single before Xander Bogaerts grounded into a double play on the next pitch, which began a stretch of eight consecutive batters retired by Reds starter Brandon Williamson (3-3, 5.94).

The left-hander, making his first start since April 29 due to shoulder fatigue, threw 41 pitches in the first two innings. He needed just 33 to get through the next three.

France again reached to start the sixth, this time on a walk, and Bogaerts followed by reaching on a slow bouncer to third base before the threat quickly turned empty.

Salas, the last batter to face Williamson, struck out on three pitches. Pinch-hitter Dustin Harris struck out on three pitches against reliever Pierce Johnson. Luis Campusano flied out to center field.

Jake Cronenworth walked to begin the seventh but was thrown out stealing on the final pitch of Tatis’ strikeout, and Samad Taylor struck out looking to end the inning.

The Reds added two runs on JJ Bleday’s home run off Jhony Brito in the seventh inning, and the Padres had one baserunner over the final two innings.

“Flush it,” Merrill said. “We’ve got an off day. Everybody can reset. Just put it behind us.”

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