SAN DIEGO -- Yu Darvish got seven swing-and-misses on his splitter on Tuesday night. The one he hung went out of the ballpark.

Jake Cronenworth ripped a 106.3 mph smash in a key situation. It became an inning-ending double play.

Luis Campusano continued his torrid start to the season with three hits. But he failed to keep his foot on home plate on defense on a force play.

It was that kind of night for the Padres, adding up to a 5-2 loss to the Cardinals at Petco Park that ensured San Diego’s first losing series of the season. The Padres were left to accept the fact that a good approach doesn’t guarantee good results in any given game.

“It’s tough when you hit one 106 [mph] to the mound, and it hops to the shortstop,” Cronenworth said. “That’s baseball. It’s a quality at-bat. You wish the result was different, but you just go up there and hit the ball hard.”

Cronenworth’s misfortune came with the Padres down, 3-2, in the bottom of the seventh and two runners on base. Darvish’s misfortune came in the top of the sixth, giving the Cardinals that 3-2 lead. Willson Contreras went the other way with a splitter to right-center field with a runner aboard.

“I was trying to go outside the zone, but it came back inside the strike zone,” Darvish said, via interpreter Shingo Horie. “He’s one of those hitters who can get back to that pitch.”

Darvish was hung with his first losing decision despite being the first Padres starter this season to go deep into a game -- seven complete innings. He struck out six, walked only one and got at least one swing and miss on five different pitch types.

Darvish’s 2.30 ERA through three starts is more than two runs lower than his 4.56 mark for the entirety of 2023. But he’s not satisfied.

“Work in progress,” Darvish said.

The offense, too, is a work in progress. It certainly has helped that Campusano is hitting as well as the starter this year as he did in limited action last year. He has four multihit games in seven starts this year, and his 12 hits this year trail only Mookie Betts (15) in the Majors.

But Campusano had one lapse Tuesday. It was still a one-run game in the eighth inning when the Cardinals loaded the bases with nobody out. Padres manager Mike Shildt brought the infield in, and Nolan Arenado hit a nubber toward third base that Tyler Wade fielded before making a backhanded flip to home plate.

A force play was on and the throw beat the runner, but Campusano had his foot a couple of inches in front of the plate when he caught the ball. The Cardinals scored and later added a second insurance run in the frame.

“This guy’s a pro. He’s doing the best he can,” Shildt said. “He’s trying to make a tough baseball play, and it didn’t work out. Shoot, man, these guys give the effort. I didn’t need to say anything to him. He got right back at it and got a knock in the ninth.”

The Padres’ 3-5 record isn’t anything to boast about, so they’re more interested at the moment in key indicators. They’re averaging a healthy 6.13 runs per game, and they’re batting .373 with runners in scoring position. Those are numbers the 2023 Padres didn’t approach.

“Overall, I feel good about where we’re at offensively,” Shildt said. “You always want to be able to string things together offensively. … A lot of areas we wanted to pay attention to and be better at, we are.

“I feel like the approach is there and the intent is there. I have yet to see a guy take an at-bat off.”