PITTSBURGH -- What a difference a year makes. Last summer, the Padres stumbled their way into Pittsburgh, then reached the low point of their season with a sweep at the hands of the Pirates. The finale was delayed due to air quality issues, then San Diego blew a late lead. Everything felt so … bleak.

This season, the Padres stormed into Pittsburgh, owners of the best record in baseball since the All-Star break. They swept the Pirates, capped with a 7-6 victory in Thursday’s series finale at PNC Park, a game in which they scored three times in the ninth inning to take the lead. Everything feels so … possible.

“This team is just a different team,” said third baseman Manny Machado. “Different year, different vibe.”

Of course, if Pittsburgh marked the low point in 2023, these Padres will be hoping their ‘24 trip is not the high point. They have bigger goals -- October goals that suddenly seem attainable, given their second-half surge and the roster they bolstered at last week’s Trade Deadline. With Thursday’s win, they moved into the top Wild Card spot in the National League, 2 1/2 games behind the Dodgers in the NL West.

It was another statement victory from the sport’s hottest team. The sweep -- of a fellow Wild Card hopeful -- was emphatic. On Tuesday, the Padres waited out a two-hour, 40-minute rain delay and, despite losing their ace after one inning, recorded a shutout. On Wednesday, they came from behind in the ninth for the first time.

On Thursday, they did it again. San Diego loaded the bases against Pirates closer David Bednar, who wanted no part of Jackson Merrill after his game-tying home run the night before. (Merrill walked on four pitches.) With one out and the bases full, Kyle Higashioka bounced into what could’ve been a game-ending double play.

Instead, shortstop Oneil Cruz threw the ball away attempting to make the turn. Two runs scored, and the Padres led 6-5.

“Take everything, give nothing away,” manager Mike Shildt said. “… When opportunities present themselves, we take advantage.”

It didn’t take long. The next hitter, Luis Arraez, laced a double to the right-center-field gap, plating another run -- and with a severely taxed Padres bullpen, that run was critical. Robert Suarez surrendered Rowdy Tellez’s RBI single in the bottom of the ninth, before nailing down his 25th save.

Afterward, Shildt revealed that five pitchers in his bullpen were unavailable on Thursday. That’s essentially everyone who didn’t pitch. So it helped that No. 5 starter Randy Vásquez carried a shutout into the sixth.

“As a starter, that’s my job, to go out there and eat as many innings as possible,” Vásquez said through interpreter Danny Sanchez. “I knew the bullpen had thrown a lot of innings the last two days. So, for me, it’s really important to go out there and get as deep into the game as possible.”

Machado and David Peralta staked Vásquez to a four-run lead with a pair of early two-run homers. But Vásquez began to falter in the sixth. He was charged with three runs, and the Pirates grabbed the lead an inning later with Joey Bart’s two-run homer off Yuki Matsui.

But, clearly, these Padres have a knack for a comeback. The Pirates had 26 outs on them -- then threw away the 27th. San Diego wasn’t about to let that lifeline go to waste.

“It takes some luck, I’m not going to lie,” Machado said. “But I’ve said it all year: We’ve got to create those opportunities.”

The thinking goes that if the Padres put themselves in the right situations often enough, they’ll get the breaks they need. Hard to argue with recent results. Then again, the Padres gave themselves plenty of chances last season, too. So often, they came up short.

You know the specifics by now -- they were 9-23 in one-run games and 2-12 in extra innings last year. They’re miles better this year -- 15-12 in one-run games and 5-1 in extras. Good luck quantifying exactly why. Having mentioned “vibes,” Machado was later asked to expand. But that’s the thing about vibes -- they’re hard to quantify.

“I’m not a writer, I don’t know those words to explain to you what it really is,” Machado said. “It’s just different, man. I think everyone here gets along, we all push for each other. We all want the best. We all pick up each other at the end of the day. That’s all you can ask for.

“Randy went out there, gave us [5 2/3] innings. He knew he had to go out there and stretch it out, especially with how the bullpen is. Those little things go a long way. When guys are doing that and picking up each other, you just have nothing but respect for every single one of them.

“You want to go out there and battle -- continue to battle every single day, continue to battle every single out. That’s what this team’s made of.”

Indeed, what a difference a year makes.