Lodolo sharp after missing time because of illness

SAN DIEGO -- Nick Lodolo was fantastic and deserved better. But the Reds faced a team just as hungry for victories as they are, and the outcome was equal parts disappointment and frustration.

Cincinnati fell to the Padres, 4-3, in 10 innings on Monday night at Petco Park in a defeat that was a double downer.

Not only did the Reds squander a 3-0 lead to begin a nine-game road trip, but they let an opportunity to gain a game on the Mets in the National League Wild Card race fall by the wayside.

The Reds needed a win in the worst way, because the calendar never lies. Is there an elevated sense of urgency at this late date?

“I don’t know that you can have an extra sense,’’ Reds manager Terry Francona said. “That’s why we try to have urgency every day, because I don’t think you can flip a button and say, ‘Well, we have to have extra urgency.’ I don’t know if it works that way.”

If it worked as well as Lodolo, Francona and crew would sign on in a heartbeat.

Lodolo, who skipped his last turn because of illness, was sensational. He surrendered two hits and a walk, with two strikeouts, over five innings in which just two Padres reached scoring position (one via a passed ball).

“Definitely, it hurts to lose that one,’’ he said. “But overall I thought I threw the ball solidly. Definitely some things I felt like I was doing better before the layoff. So it’s good to get back out there and build off that one.’’

Lodolo worked 4 2/3 innings at Dodger Stadium on Aug. 27. His start prior to that, on Aug. 4, was restricted to 23 pitches because of a blister on his left index finger.

While Lodolo was stout, he wasn’t sturdy. His lack of recent work showed. The red light on his fuel tank was blinking.

“I thought he threw the ball extremely well,’’ Francona said. “I don’t think it was surprising he was out of gas after the fifth. In a perfect world, we send him right back out. But it’s not a perfect world.”

Lodolo agreed: “For sure, there in the fifth, I was definitely running a little bit on fumes.’’

What the Reds are growing thin on is time. They are four games out of the final Wild Card spot with 18 games to play.

“I think anytime we are at this point in the season, you get a lead, you want to capitalize on that,’’ Lodolo said. “We know where we’re at. We have to win games. All we can do is show back up tomorrow and be ready to roll.’’

With the form he showed Monday, Lodolo will be a significant asset for the Reds down the stretch.

“Definitely, I like to think of myself like that,’’ he said. “It was definitely good to get back out there. There are some things I know, for sure, I can do better.’’

Before the San Diego crowd could settle in with a fish taco, TJ Friedl hooked a hanging Yu Darvish curve down the right-field line for a game-opening home run.

It was Friedl’s fifth career leadoff homer and fourth of the year, plus it extended his on-base streak to a career-high 18 games.

Friedl got busy again in the third inning with a one-out single, stolen base and some heads up baserunning when taking third as Noelvi Marte’s groundout ricocheted off Darvish’s glove to second baseman Jake Cronenworth.

Elly De La Cruz poked a single up the middle for 2-0 Reds cushion. That lead was extended to 3-0 on Austin Hays’ big fly over the left-field fence in the sixth.

But the bottom half of that inning proved the Reds’ downfall after the bullpen gate swung open.

Relievers Scott Barlow and Brent Suter gave that advantage back, with the big blow being Jackson Merrill’s game-tying, two-out, two-run triple of Suter. Merrill’s drive glanced off the diving Friedl’s glove in right-center.

The Padres won it in the 10th on a Fernardo Tatis Jr. sacrifice fly.