The Cubs offense has been scuffling of late, averaging 2.8 runs per game over their last 12.

They hoped the return of Cody Bellinger would help jumpstart the lineup and it did, in a way, on Tuesday night.

But the Cubs ran into a buzzsaw in the series finale with the Padres Wednesday afternoon in the form of Dylan Cease.

Cease, who was drafted by the Cubs in the 6th round in 2014, kept Bellinger and Co. at bay in a 3-0 Padres win in front of 30,138 fans at Wrigley Field.

Cease was on point all afternoon, striking out 12 Cubs in 7 shutout innings of work. He permitted just 1 hit — a tapper off his glove that Yan Gomes beat out for an infield single. Cease also walked 2 batters and plunked Nico Hoerner with a pitch as he tied a career high with 113 pitches.

“Cease was really good,” said Ian Happ, who struck out twice and walked once. “He’s throwing the upper 90s fastball where he wants it with two different breaking balls off that and did a good job keep us off balance. Those days happen.”

Hayden Wesneski notched a quality start for the Cubs, allowing 3 runs on 7 hits in 6 innings. He has continued his strong start to the season (1.59 ERA) after beginning the year in Triple-A Iowa.

Bellinger supplied a lot of the offense Tuesday night with 3 hits and a homer but that spark was only able to last one day. However, the Cubs will get more lineup reinforcements this weekend with Seiya Suzuki expected to return for the series in Pittsburgh.

Suzuki (oblique) singled in his first rehab game with Triple-A Iowa Wednesday and will play again on Thursday before being activated off the IL either Friday or Saturday.

“Hopefully we’ll have him back at some point this weekend,” Happ said. “And just makes the lineup so much deeper. Obviously what Belli was able to do last night, a huge jolt for us to get the offense gelling a little bit.

“We’ve done a good job of scoring what we need to but haven’t put up a bunch of big numbers. The pitching staff has been great; they’ve been holding us together and the offense will come around. We’re gonna make some noise like we did earlier in the year. It’s just a matter of time.”

The series loss to the Padres represents only the 4th series the Cubs have dropped this season. Ironically, 2 of those series losses have come at the hands of the Padres, but the Cubs are done playing San Diego in the regular season.

Thursday represents an off-day for the Cubs after playing 16 straight days, in which they went 9-7 during that stretch. They’re back at it Friday evening Pittsburgh. Coverage begins on Marquee Sports Network at 4:30 p.m.