SAN DIEGO — There is so often no margin for error. There is no room, really, for anything else that doesn't go their way in many games the Padres play.
That has been OK much of the time.
Wednesday afternoon was one of the games in which it was not.
Yu Darvish tired near the end of an otherwise magnificent outing, former Padres infielder Luis Urías made a deft slide at third base, and the Brewers scored two runs in the seventh inning and held on for a 2-1 victory at Petco Park.
The Padres are getting the kind of starting pitching teams hardly dare to dream about.
Manny Machado is staging an MVP campaign, but the rotation's group effort has shouldered much of the lifting toward the Padres' 28-16 record.
But Wednesday was the latest occurrence of the offensive ineffectiveness that has practically become rote and has certainly become predictable.
The Padres' run Wednesday, which put them up 1-0 in the fifth inning, came on a fielder's choice grounder by Jurickson Profar. Their only other run in the last two games came in the first inning Tuesday on a double-play grounder by Profar.
The Padres were hitless in six at-bats with runners in scoring position Wednesday after going 0-for-5 Tuesday.
It is true the Brewers have one of the game's better pitching staffs. But when Wednesday was the 16th time this season the Padres have scored two or fewer runs — including half of their 20 home games — the opposing pitcher hardly seems worth mentioning.
The Padres scored their run off young left-hander Aaron Ashby as his uncle, former Padres pitcher Andy Ashby, watched from seats near the home dugout.
Ashby was lifted in the sixth inning with two outs and a runner on first for Luis Perdomo, who got the final out of that inning and allowed only a leadoff single to Trent Grisham in the seventh. Yes, that Luis Perdomo. The one who had a 5.19 ERA for the Padres from 2016-20.
Brad Boxberger, another former Padres reliever, struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth.
Josh Hader, the Brewers' almost unhittable closer, missed the series to be home with his wife, who has experienced complications in her pregnancy. So Devin Williams worked the ninth inning for the third straight game and retired the Padres in order for his second straight save.
The Padres, who lost a second straight game for the first time since April 15 and 16 and lost a series for the first time in their last four series, scored five runs in three days against the National League Central leaders. (They also scored five runs in three games last week in Philadelphia but managed to win twice via shutouts.)
The Brewers had one hit, had walked once and had one runner advance to second base in the first six innings.
Darvish walked Urías to begin the seventh, got Christian Yelich on a fly ball and surrendered a single to Andrew McCutchen that moved Urías to third. On the play, right fielder Wil Myers fielded the ball running forward and threw on a bounce to Machado, who appeared in position to apply the tag in time before Urías reached around with his left hand and touched the bag before Machado's touched him on the right shoulder.
A sinker left up in the zone was sent the other way down the left field line by Rowdy Tellez, scoring Urías and bringing manager Bob Melvin out to talk to Darvish.
Melvin departed after a brief conversation, and Darvish surrendered a sacrifice fly to Tyrone Taylor.
That brought Melvin back out and Robert Suarez into the game.
It was Darvish's seventh quality start, tied for second in the major leagues behind only teammate Joe Musgrove's eight. The Padres lead the majors with 23 quality starts, meaning games in which their starter goes at least six innings and allows no more than three earned runs.
