By Jeremy Harness

In the World Series-winning years, the Giants’ bullpen got big outs in crucial games. On Wednesday, they did the exact opposite, as the shoddy relief was the key ingredient in a 5-4 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

Jake Peavy tossed six shutout innings and left the game holding a 2-0 lead, as he stifled his former team in giving up only four hits while walking only one batter and striking out four.

However, things got messy almost right away when the ball was taken out of Peavy’s hand. Cory Gearrin took the ball in the bottom of the seventh and immediately gave up a single and a walk without getting anyone out. Josh Osich took over and struck out the next two batters, but then he surrendered a double to Yangervis Solarte to score both runners and tie the game.

The Giants went back on top in the eighth with Jarrett Parker’s solo homer, but Sergio Romo, who has been very good out of the bullpen with a 2.92 ERA entering Wednesday, surrendered a two-run double to Travis Jankowski to give the Padres a one-run lead.

The Giants appeared to be firmly in the driver’s seat in the top of the ninth, as Buster Posey reached on right fielder Matt Kemp’s fielding error, and Brandon Crawford went the other way down the left-field line to put runners on second and third with nobody out against perennial All-Star closer Craig Kimbrel.

All the Giants had to do at this point is make contact a couple of times, and the lead was theirs once again. However, they couldn’t even do that, and for at least a half an inning, they got away with it.

Mac Williamson, who had his first major-league at-bat at the time, and Kelby Tomlinson each struck out. Trevor Brown appeared headed down a similar path, but Kimbrel bailed the Giants out by uncorking a wild pitch that nearly missed Brown’s head and ricocheted off the backstop. Posey reacted very quickly and was able to beat Kimbrel’s tag to the plate to tie things up.

It was not to be, however. George Kontos surrendered a one-out double to Kemp and then intentionally walked Melvin Upton, Jr. Two batters later, Jedd Gyorko singled off Santiago Casilla to score the winning run and drop the Giants further down in the National League West standings.

This blow could prove to be the fatal one, as the Los Angeles Dodgers won Wednesday, dropping their magic number to clinch the division to five. Things do not look any better in the wild-card scenario, as they now face a 9 ½-game deficit there.