SAN DIEGO — Soon after a three-hour, 46-minute contest concluded a stretch of 26 games in 27 days, Jake Cronenworth sank into his chair inside the San Diego Padres’ clubhouse. The 32-year-old second baseman declined to stand. He was too tired, he said, to speak with reporters.A moment later, he rose to his feet.He was kidding. Sort of.“It’s going to be a nice off-day tomorrow,” Cronenworth said.The infielder and his teammates had earned it Wednesday with a 4-3, 11-inning victory that secured more than a sweep of the first-place Milwaukee Brewers.For the first time since June 27, the Padres (65-57) are back in playoff position. They have won 15 of their past 19 games — and 17 of 26 since the All-Star break — to vault past six teams and land in the National League’s second wild-card spot. Their odds of playing into October have soared from roughly 7 percent to better than 60 percent.What’s fueled this season-altering stretch?“I think a lot of it had to do with the position we were in kind of when we started this, maybe even a little bit after we’d started it,” Cronenworth said. “Obviously, it was kind of a race to the trade deadline for us, so it put all the pressure on us to go out there and perform and let (president of baseball operations A.J. Preller) do what he does. And after that, it’s like, ‘Man, this is the group we got. Let’s go out and take it.’”