SAN DIEGO -- For eight innings on Saturday night, the Padres did not have Fernando Tatis Jr. and Jackson Merrill at their disposal. And, needless to say, the San Diego lineup is a whole lot better when it features two of the best outfielders in baseball.

No, those absences are not expected to linger. Both came off the bench to bat in the ninth inning -- though the Padres still came up short against the Giants, 6-3, before another sellout at Petco Park.

Merrill, who fouled a ball off his left knee on Friday, could return to the starting lineup on Sunday, manager Mike Shildt said. Tatis was on the bench for a scripted off-day. He missed 2 1/2 months with a stress reaction in his right femur. The Padres said they’d be cautious upon his return to action. Rightly so.

Still, those absences were a potentially decisive factor in Saturday’s loss. On a night when the Padres could have put further separation between themselves and a pair of fellow Wild Card contenders, they failed to do so.

The D-backs and Braves lost, meaning the Padres’ lead over Arizona for the top Wild Card spot in the National League remains at 1 1/2 games. Their edge over Atlanta -- the first team on the outside of the playoff picture in the NL -- is three games. (The Mets won and moved two games back of San Diego.)

“We can’t worry too much about the other teams,” said second baseman Xander Bogaerts, who went 0-for-4, including two pivotal bases-loaded groundouts. “You’re just wasting energy on stuff that you can’t control. Sometimes seeing that scoreboard makes you want to do a little bit too much.

“That’s a big opportunity today, but in a couple hours we’ll be back here and have a good chance to have a good series win.”

Ideally, with Tatis and Merrill in the lineup -- although this Padres lineup is clearly so much more than a two-man show. It’s usually one of the deepest in baseball.

Luis Arraez had three hits on Saturday and has not struck out in a whopping 110 plate appearances -- the longest single-season stretch by any player since Juan Pierre reached 147 in 2004. He has struck out only twice since the All-Star break.

Manny Machado did not homer Saturday, but remains on a tear. (His next blast will move him past Nate Colbert into sole possession of the franchise’s home run lead with 164). Machado went 2-for-4 and is hitting .320 this month.

The Padres offense is loaded. It might be the best in franchise history. But, well, it’s just better with Tatis and Merrill. Ha-Seong Kim, too.

At this point, Kim’s status is the biggest concern among the three Padres starters who were absent on Saturday. Kim injured his right shoulder diving back into first base last month in Colorado. At the time, the Padres were hopeful he might avoid an IL stint. After imaging revealed inflammation, he was placed on the IL and the club was hopeful he’d return after the minimum 10 days.

It’s now been three weeks, and Kim still isn’t throwing across the diamond at 100%. Mason McCoy has been solid defensively in Kim’s place at shortstop. But he’s hitting just .208 with two extra-base hits in 17 games.

Without Kim, Merrill and Tatis -- and with catcher Kyle Higashioka getting the night off in favor of the struggling Luis Campusano -- the San Diego lineup didn’t feature its usual length. Still, the Padres grabbed a 2-0 lead early and hung around late.

Right-hander Dylan Cease struggled, before settling in for six innings. He allowed four runs -- three of which came on the first of two Grant McCray home runs.

“Especially early, it wasn’t great,” Cease said. “I battled. But ultimately, it wasn’t good enough.”

The Padres trailed 4-3 entering the ninth. Campusano, Tyler Wade (who replaced Merrill in center) and McCoy were due in the bottom half. That meant Shildt was always likely to deploy Tatis, Merrill and Donovan Solano as pinch-hitters.

But before the Padres came to the plate, McCray launched his second homer of the game, a two-run shot off Yuki Matsui to make it 6-3. Shildt indeed used that trio of pinch-hitters, and Tatis opened the bottom of the ninth with a double. But Giants righty Ryan Walker retired the next three in order.

“The good thing is, we play baseball tomorrow,” Bogaerts said. “So we can wash out what we did today. We obviously didn’t play our best game. I left way too many guys on the bases. Frustrating night.”