PHILADELPHIA -- The Padres endured one of their toughest defeats of the season on Thursday, a rain-soaked walk-off loss in Cincinnati that ended around midnight. They had a flight to catch, too, and by the time they arrived in Philadelphia, it was awfully late. Or early, depending how you looked at it.

• Box score

All things considered, that made Friday’s ninth-inning comeback a particularly valiant effort. But there’s no category for such things in the National League West standings. The Padres’ 4-3 loss to the Phillies in 10 innings at Citizens Bank Park was just another brutal walk-off defeat -- the first time in franchise history they’d been walked off on consecutive days in different cities.

“It’s frustrating, just not being able to execute,” said Padres manager Jayce Tingler. “The positives are the battle-back. … The guys kept fighting.”

The Padres were blanked for eight innings, in which Phillies right-hander Zack Wheeler looked like what he is: one of the best pitchers in baseball. Once Wheeler exited, the Friars pounced. Fernando Tatis Jr. doubled home a run, and Jurickson Profar doubled home two, tying the game with two outs in the ninth.

To no avail. The Phillies would walk it off in the bottom of the 10th on Brad Miller’s double off Austin Adams. Here are three takeaways from the loss:

1. Tenth-inning maneuvering
Some interesting decisions in both halves of the 10th inning.

First, the top half: Tingler called on Jorge Mateo to pinch-run and start the frame on second base. The Padres’ bullpen was feeling the effects of a heavy first-half burden, and Tingler wasn’t messing around. He wanted to win the game, and win it quickly.

“Coming off the short night and the long series with the rain [delays], we were going to take our chance, and we were going to unload the bench, and obviously Mateo is our fastest guy,” Tingler said.

Didn’t quite work the way Tingler envisioned. Ha-Seong Kim was given the option to swing away. He chose a bunt attempt instead, trying to move Mateo to third base. Kim popped it up, and ultimately Mateo would be stranded at second.

In the bottom half of the 10th, the Padres called for Adams, despite the fact that Emilio Pagán hasn’t pitched since Tuesday. After the game, Tingler revealed that Pagán has been dealing with some neck tightness lately (though he’s expected to be available on Saturday). Pagán’s absence further shortened the Padres’ bullpen -- hence Tingler’s all-or-nothing approach to the 10th.

2. Progress for Profar
During the Padres’ 2020 playoff run, Profar was one of the team’s most impactful players, and he was rewarded with a three-year contract during the offseason. But it’s been a brutal ‘21 campaign for the do-everything utilityman. He’s hitting just .225 with a .628 OPS.

Lately, however, Profar has shown signs of a breakout. He’s reaching base at a .529 clip over the past week and has four extra-base hits in that span -- including Friday’s game-tying double. When Profar is hitting, he’s a hugely valuable piece, and after the game, Tingler detailed why:

“He plays all over the field, number one,” Tingler said. “He can come in off the bench and be a tough matchup, lefty-righty, with him switch-hitting. He can go in a lot of different areas in the lineup, and he can also give some of the everyday guys days off -- and when he’s playing well, you don’t miss a beat. If anything, it just adds a ton of flexibility for us.”

In no uncertain terms, the Padres need a player like 2020 Profar for the stretch run. If not Profar himself, they’ll scour the trade market in search of a similar piece. (But they’d prefer it if the solution was already in-house.)

3. Paddack’s bounce-back
Coming off his worst start of the season, Chris Paddack resolved that he wouldn’t let one bad start bleed into another -- which happened far too frequently during his rocky 2020 campaign.

Then, on Friday night, the first two batters Paddack faced came around to score.

“I held my composure, took a couple deep breaths behind the mound, and I told myself: I gotta keep the boys in the game,” Paddack said.

He did exactly that. After singles by Odúbel Herrera and Jean Segura to start the game, Paddack retired 13 straight Phillies. He surrendered just one further run across seven innings, a fifth-inning homer by Didi Gregorius. Coming off a brutal outing in which he allowed five runs over 2 1/3 innings against the D-backs, it was an important bounce-back effort -- the type that eluded him in 2020.

“We’re growing each start,” Paddack said. “That’s the most important part.”

Paddack hasn’t been the dominant force he was during his rookie 2019 campaign. But he’s been a very serviceable back-end rotation piece. In this loaded rotation, that’s all the Padres need him to be.