SAN DIEGO -- The Cardinals reached the halfway point of their season Saturday night. It just might be their low point, as well.

If they are going to remain in the National League playoff hunt, it better be.

The Cardinals dropped a 12-2 decision to the Padres at Petco Park, and the score only hints at the story. The loss was the Cards’ fifth straight and left them at 40-41 after 81 games.

• Box score

“It says we’re an average team; that’s what the record says,” manager Mike Shildt said. “That’s basically what .500 is. End of the day, it’s mediocrity. And that’s not ultimately acceptable.

“We know we’re better, and we will be better. Actions speak louder than words. Beyond that, I don’t know what I can say. We need to start acting on it.”

For a franchise that has enjoyed 11 straight winning seasons, that is an unfamiliar position. Only once in those 11 seasons did the Cardinals hit the halfway point under .500 -- two years ago, when they stood 39-42 and improved slightly in the second half to finish at 83-79.

This isn’t the first time in 2019 the Cardinals dipped below .500. They were 31-32 as recently as June 9. But they responded with nine wins in their next 13 games to climb to 40-36. Then came the current slide, the Cardinals’ longest losing streak of the season.

Loss No. 41 provided few suggestions that another quick turnaround is coming. Consider:

• Starting pitcher Dakota Hudson failed to complete the second inning, enduring a seven-run frame that started with a hit batter and a walk and ended for the right-hander with back-to-back homers by Manny Machado and Franmil Reyes. In between, Hudson committed a throwing error that helped extend the inning and led to six unearned runs.

• After Tommy Edman hit his first leadoff home run, the Cardinals didn’t register another hit until the sixth inning. Padres rookie Chris Paddack struck out eight in his six innings of work.

• The offense officially lost its top home run hitter, Marcell Ozuna, to the injured list earlier in the day because of broken bones in his right hand. Paul Goldschmidt took over as the cleanup hitter and went 0-for-4 with a strikeout. Goldschmidt is 7-for-54 with three extra-base hits in his past 15 games. The Cardinals have averaged two runs a game during the losing streak.

• Shildt called it a day for regulars Yadier Molina and Paul DeJong in the fifth inning, subbing them out when the score was 9-1.

• The Padres hit five homers, including two apiece by Machado and Reyes.

“Guys are still taking their tough at-bats, trying to fight, encouraging each other,” Shildt said. “End of the day, we’ve got to get it done.”

This week, Shildt has rested veteran Matt Carpenter in favor of the rookie Edman. He has juggled his outfield, even before Ozuna’s injury. There aren’t a lot more options to shake things up with the current roster.

“Clearly, something different’s got to happen,” Shildt said. “I’m not going to beat on people who are giving it everything they’ve got. If guys were starting to show up and not get their work in, to straggle in, just go through the motions -- but we’ve got guys in a 12-2 game who are laying out, who are giving it everything they can.

“We’ve had our conversations. We’re competing, but just not getting it done. Do I feel I need to go turn the [postgame] spread over to try to do something different? That would be insulting to this group and their professionalism.”

Besides Edman’s homer in his hometown, the Cardinals’ performance of the night belonged to Daniel Ponce de Leon, who struck out nine in 5 1/3 innings of relief. The last Cardinals reliever to strike out nine was Al Hrabosky on Sept. 25, 1974, vs. the Pirates.

“In that role, I was actually trying to get quick outs and eat up innings,” the right-hander said. “I probably got more swings and misses than I intended to, to be honest. I was just trying to get in and out of innings.”

Hudson might have gotten out of that fateful second inning if not for his decision to throw to second base after he fielded a soft bouncer off the bat of Manuel Margot with runners on first and second and nobody out. His throw to second tailed toward oncoming runner Josh Naylor, giving Kolten Wong no chance to handle it cleanly. The error loaded the bases and set up the damage that followed.

“I gave a good team, a good lineup, too many outs,” Hudson said.