SAN DIEGO – Here’s a simple fact of life for the 2023 Padres: If they’re going to reach the heights they believe they’re capable of reaching, they’re going to have to start winning close games.

Their 5-13 record in one-run games marks the fewest wins in the Majors. The same goes for their 0-6 record in extra innings (needless to say). Their struggles in those situations are untenable.

And while that may be true, here’s another way to view things: The Padres’ +38 run differential -- four runs better than the first-place D-backs -- indicates they’re probably a much better team than they’ve shown for much of the season’s first half.

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On Friday night, the Padres pounded the Nationals, 13-3, at Petco Park. Coming off a 10-run win in San Francisco on Thursday, it marked the fourth time in franchise history the Padres had won consecutive games by double digits and the first time since Aug. 5-6, 2011.

“To be able to back up 10 runs with 13 tonight – it felt pretty good,” said Padres manager Bob Melvin.

Ha-Seong Kim, Xander Bogaerts and Juan Soto all homered and had two hits apiece. Fernando Tatis Jr. had three hits and scored three times. Joe Musgrove was excellent over seven innings of one-run ball.

Comfortable as can be. And while the Padres don’t get any extra credit for blowouts – the past two victories don’t make up for the three close losses that preceded them – there’s a school of thought that, well, their luck has to change at some point. 

Or, as Melvin put it prior to Friday’s game: “It tends to even out over 162.”

So the theory goes. The Padres entered play Friday with a pythagorean win-loss record of 41-34. Meaning: Based on all the runs they’ve scored compared with all the runs they’ve allowed, they should be five wins better than their actual record. (And that was before Friday’s blowout.)

It’s little consolation. The standings are the standings. San Diego sits in fourth place, 8 1/2 games behind Arizona and two games below .500. To a man, the Padres are wary of falling back on underlying numbers. Their poor record this season cannot be boiled down to bad luck -- at least not exclusively.

“It’s our execution in some of those [close] games,” Melvin said. “Last year, we were as good as we could be in those. This year we have not been yet. It’ll come.”

Added Musgrove: “Yeah, we have a good run differential, but when we need to win by one or two, we’re not doing that very well. I don’t know what that is, either. This clubhouse doesn’t have guys that, like, panic in those big pressure situations. But back ends of bullpens are really good now, and we just haven’t been able to push that run across late.”

In the meantime, the Padres will happily take the blowouts as they come. Kim led the charge on Friday, launching the first leadoff home run of his big league career. (His first first-inning homer of any kind, for that matter.) It also marks the first time Kim has homered in consecutive games in the Majors.

“There’s ups and downs,” Kim said through Korean interpreter Leo Bae. “But right now, I feel good every at-bat.”

Kim singled home two more in the fifth and narrowly missed another homer in the sixth. He has started in the leadoff spot in consecutive games against lefty starters, and he has thrived there, leaving Melvin with a decision to make against Nationals right-hander Josiah Gray on Saturday.

Kim hasn’t been nearly as productive against righties. But his presence in the top spot naturally lengthens the San Diego lineup -- to the point where Bogaerts, a five-time Silver Slugger, is hitting fifth. It was Bogaerts who broke the game open with a three-run homer in the fifth, his first home run in precisely one month.

“Today felt good,” said Bogaerts, who was given Thursday off after his recent struggles. “Today felt really good. I felt extremely close to myself. Tomorrow, I’ve just got to come here with the same attitude and do the same things and continue creating those good habits, stay on point.”

The same should be said of the Padres. If they do the little things well, their execution -- and their luck -- in close games should change. 

“These games are going to happen every once in a while,” said first baseman Jake Cronenworth, who reached base three times. “The close games are going to happen more often. You’ve got to win both.”