SAN DIEGO -- The Padres sent 22 batters to the plate in a three-inning span from the fifth through the seventh innings on Friday. To Brewers right-hander Colin Rea, one of them stood out.

It was San Diego’s nine-hole hitter, catcher Kyle Higashioka, who accepted a two-out, full-count walk when Rea yanked a fastball way low and away. It was the moment that marked the turning point of the Brewers’ 9-5 loss at Petco Park.

“You don’t want that to happen right there,” Rea said.

Said Brewers manager Pat Murphy: “That was critical.”

The walk extended the inning for Luis Arraez’s second home run this season in his 320th at-bat, a fly ball that narrowly found the fair side of the right-field foul pole and sliced into what had been a 4-1 Brewers lead. They’d had to work hard for all four of those runs the previous half inning, sending 10 men to the plate over 30 long minutes against Padres starter Dylan Cease and a reliever while Rea waited to get back to the mound.

When he did, Rea’s aim was a shutdown inning. After retiring the first two batters of the fifth, Rea was at 46 pitches through 4 2/3 innings as Higashioka stepped up.

“You want to get them back on the field and on their feet,” Rea said. “Obviously, it didn’t work that way.”

Instead, the Padres kept coming. Jake Cronenworth, Thursday’s walk-off hero for San Diego, hit a tying solo homer off Rea in the Padres’ eight-batter, two-run sixth, when Donovan Solano’s go-ahead, pinch-hit single fell in front of Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick. Cronenworth was a problem all night, finishing with five hits, four runs scored and two RBIs.

He drove in another run in the seventh, as nine more Padres came to the plate for three more runs against usually reliable Hoby Milner and Elvis Peguero with another dose of imperfect defense. This time it was second baseman Brice Turang, who had a chance to keep it a 7-5 game had he been able to come up with Ha-Seong Kim’s bouncer with the bases loaded and the infield in.

Instead, the Padres kept coming. Jake Cronenworth, Thursday’s walk-off hero for San Diego, hit a tying solo homer off Rea in the Padres’ eight-batter, two-run sixth, when Donovan Solano’s go-ahead, pinch-hit single fell in front of Brewers center fielder Sal Frelick. Cronenworth was a problem all night, finishing with five hits, four runs scored and two RBIs.

He drove in another run in the seventh, as nine more Padres came to the plate for three more runs against usually reliable Hoby Milner and Elvis Peguero with another dose of imperfect defense. This time it was second baseman Brice Turang, who had a chance to keep it a 7-5 game had he been able to come up with Ha-Seong Kim’s bouncer with the bases loaded and the infield in.

The final tally for Brewers relievers: 2 2/3 innings, nine hits, four runs (three earned) and only two strikeouts.

“Our bullpen has been great all year. Our pitching staff has been great all year,” Murphy said. “I’m still proud of our guys. We got a No. 1 out of there in five innings.”

That No. 1 starter was Padres right-hander Cease, who threw a whopping 106 pitches in 4 2/3 innings. The Brewers tormented him with speed in the fifth, when rookies Tyler Black (eight-pitch walk followed by a stolen base) and Jackson Chourio (infield single) preceded Turang’s run-scoring infield hit.

Initially, that play was ruled an out, with Black cut down at home. The Brewers challenged and won, though Black absorbed a blow to the left elbow when Higashioka stepped on his arm.

It turned into a big inning, with William Contreras, Christian Yelich and Rhys Hoskins adding RBI singles.

Did the long layoff play a part in what was to come for Rea?

“No, not at all really,” Rea said. “I actually felt good when I went back out there. I was able to stay loose by throwing some plyo balls between innings. It wasn’t a factor, I felt.”

“We battled,” Murphy said. “That’s what a good offense does, so I’m happy. And again, our pitching staff has won us a lot of games. It’s been a lot of 2-0s, 2-1s. This was not normal.”

It all added up to a loss that dropped the Brewers to 1-4 against the Padres this season with two games remaining, meaning San Diego took the regular-season series between these possible postseason contenders.

“The whole night, we just weren’t putting them away,” Rea said. “They’re locked in right now, it seems like. That’s a good lineup and you have to put them away when you get ahead of them.”

If you were really searching for a silver lining, it was the Brewers built a 6 1/2-game lead over their next-closest competitor in the National League Central to be able to absorb nights like this.

That was the furthest thing from Rea’s mind.

“Our thing is one game at a time,” Rea said. “No matter what the situation is in the season, [a loss] still stinks.”