Manny Machado has found his best hitting groove of the season, giving a desperate Padres team a summer boost.

With Machado stoking two rallies Sunday, the Padres beat the Blue Jays 5-4 to enter the All-Star break at .500 with their first series victory in the past five.

Consecutive one-run victories over Toronto (45-51) enabled the Padres (48-48) to gain ground in a six-team race for the final wild card playoff spot as A.J. Preller weighs whether to sell or buy entering the Aug. 3 trade deadline.

Machado has come on.

As part of a 10-for-25 surge, he hit a three-run home run eight days ago in Dodger Stadium to help end the team’s eight-game losing streak and lined two key hits Sunday as the Padres overcame 1-0 and 4-3 deficits at home.

“Manny being Manny, that simple,” Fernando Tatis Jr. said. “I’ve said it before, when he goes, we go.”

Machado’s three hits lifted his batting average above .200 for the first time since May 8, another stark reminder of the extreme challenges Padres stars have faced in the season’s first half.

Nick Pivetta, the starter on opening day, hasn’t pitched since an elbow injury halted him in April.

Jackson Merrill struggled worse than he ever had as a hitter, and Tatis fell into the longest home run drought of his career.

“It was a roller coaster for sure,” Machado said. “We learned a lot as a group. But it pulled us together.”

Machado got help from several others on Sunday.

The group including rookie Jase Bowen (key stolen base), manager Craig Stammen (subbing Bowen to run for Machado at second base), Xander Bogaerts (key single and stolen base), Ty France (sacrifice fly that stood as the winner), Gavin Sheets (eight-pitch walk), closer Mason Miller (striking out Vladimir Guerrero Jr. to clinch it) and Jake Cronenworth (run-scoring single.)

Machado lauded rookie infielder Sung-Mun Song.

He said the South Korean’s at-bat quality has soared with increased playing time and his actions at third base have impressed him, making it easier for Stammen to have Machado fill a DH role or not start.

When the Padres return from the break, they’ll go to Kansas City before stops in Atlanta and Miami.

Six home games against losing teams – the Rockies and Giants – will take them into the All-Star break.

FanGraphs analytics gave the Padres just a 12.2% chance entering Sunday to win a wild card playoff berth.

In the table for the last spot, Miami (52-45) leads them by 3 1/2 games despite having MLB’s smallest luxury-tax payroll. Behind the Marlins and ahead of the Padres are St. Louis (50-45), Pittsburgh (50-47) and an Arizona team (49-47) that just swept the Dodgers in L.A.

Preller should have a much clearer picture when the Padres leave Miami on July 26.

“We’ve got to get off to a hot start,” said Machado, the team leader with 19 home runs.

“Because at the end of the day,” he added, “our goal is to bring a championship to the city of San Diego. For us to do that, we’ve got to get off to a hot start. It doesn’t matter what the trade deadline brings or comes with.”

Preller said Saturday he could end up buying or selling.

Tatis said there’s no point in players mulling what moves Prellers might make.

“It’s A.J. Who knows?” he said. “Also, the (incoming) owner is going to play a big part of it here.

“It’s A.J. Anything can be in play,” he added.

The Padres can’t expect Pivetta or Joe Musgrove back before August, if then.

The starting rotation’s poor first half has taxed a bullpen that shut down Jason Adam last week, perhaps until August, and continues to ask more of Adrian Morejón, who was 13th in innings pitched by a reliever before allowing a go-ahead run Sunday as part of a two-inning outing.

This is a team with a minus-43 run differential.

Down below, media analysts who include former evaluators with the Blue Jays and Braves, rank San Diego’s farm system as last of 30 systems.

But for all the challenges dating to opening day, when Tigers ace Tarik Skubal shut them down, the Padres stand today on level ground.

Behind them now, mercifully, is a stretch of 17 games in 17 days that ended Sunday. Within that stretch, several players stayed in the lineup despite sickness or other physical issues.

Machado, when asked what he’s been “playing with” physically that has curtailed his baserunning, leading Stammen to have Bowen run for him, gave a dry reply.

“What haven’t I?” he said.

Tatis, who looked worn out at the end of two games in L.A., was asked what he’ll do during the All-Star break.

He replied in monotone.

“Rest. Sleep. Be far from humanity for a couple of days.”

It’s been a rough ride.

Reinforcements will be needed.

But to persuade Preller to get them, improvement on the field will be needed. And ASAP.