San Diego Padres: 3 players to praise for series win over the Miami Marlins

Facing their biggest stretch of games at home, the San Diego Padres had a chance to put a dent into the deficit in the National League Wild Card race. After taking two out of three from the Baltimore Orioles, they dropped four of seven games against the Arizona Diamondbacks and Miami Marlins, two teams ahead of them.

San Diego dropped three out of four to the Diamondbacks and took two out of three over the Marlins to keep their faint postseason hopes alive. In reality, the Friars needed to win five of their last seven games to put a dent into the Wild Card deficit before heading out on the road.

At this point, manager Bob Melvin and his team will take the series win over Miami and run with it as they hit the road for a six-game road trip against the Milwaukee Brewers and St. Louis Cardinals with some momentum.

San Diego Padres got multiple players to praise for winning the series against the Marlins

If the Padres were going to win the series over Miami, they were going to need multiple players to step up and that's what happened. Here are some players to praise in the series win and one player was able to get the best of his former team.

San Diego Padres: Garrett Cooper plays well against his old team

At the trade deadline, the Padres acquired Garrett Cooper and Sean Reynolds from the Marlins for pitcher Ryan Weathers. In his first series against his old team, Cooper played a big hand in the series win for his new club.

He played in all three games and had three hits in the series and scored a run in the two wins. He drew two walks and scored in the 6-2 win Monday night, then Tuesday, he had one of three San Diego hits in the 3-0 loss. In Wednesday's 4-0 win, he was 2-for-3 and scored the fourth and final run in the bottom of the seventh inning when he scored on a Fernando Tatis single and went through the stop sign of third base coach Matt Williams.

Since being acquired from Miami, Cooper has slashed .250/.369/.469 and played well at first base. Melvin has a trio of bodies to play at first with Jake Cronenworth and Ji Man Choi, who is currently on the injured list, but Cooper has proven to be a nice addition to the bottom of the order that San Diego has been missing.

For three games, he got the final say against his former team and helped the Padres secure two badly needed victories.

San Diego Padres: Seth Lugo pitched a gem to win the series

Monday night, Michael Wacha pitched well to get the series off on the right foot going 5.1 innings allowing just five hits, one run, and striking out seven in a start that was very much needed by San Diego. Blake Snell did not pitch badly in Tuesday's loss, he just got no run support. Seth Lugo matched Wacha in terms of a much-needed start on Wednesday.

The right-hander went six innings and was in command of all of his pitches. He only struck out three, but allowed just three hits and walked one, relying on his defense behind him. He worked out of his biggest jam in the game in the fifth while holding a 1-0 lead, getting a strikeout to end the inning with runners on the corners. In the bottom half of the inning, Xander Bogaerts gave his pitcher some breathing room with a two-run home run.

After Lugo, Steven Wilson, Tom Cosgrove and Josh Hader were able to close it out, however, the Friars' closer didn't make it easy on himself, allowing a hit and walking two to load the bases with one out, but he was able to get out without any damage and the win.

Overall, there were several players who stepped up to win a series that San Diego needed to win. Now a road trip against two National League Central Division teams to close out August will either keep the Padres' hopes alive for a playoff berth or push them to the brink of no return in the standings.