By Morris Phillips

Twice on Wednesday afternoon, the Giants needed “shut down” innings. Instead they got beat down by the potent Padres’ lineup. The result was a 13-7 loss that once again has the team confronting its reality on the outside of the postseason chase.

And the even-more troubling aside? The beefed-up Padres, who figure to be a menace within the NL West for years to come, are gaining their stride as witnessed by newly-acquired Juan Soto’s swagger-filled summation of the afternoon.

“We showed it today,” Juan Soto said. “We’re coming back from everything.”

Soto’s overanxious path to Austin Slater’s single in the third inning allowed the ball to get by him, resulting in Slater taking third base and two runs scoring. That was the highlight of the Giants’ four-run inning that, briefly, had them in control.

But in the bottom of the inning, the first seven Padres reached base in a six-run answer that chased Giants’ starter Jakob Junis and gave San Diego a 6-4 lead. Soto singled as the inning’s third batter to load the bases. That would set the stage for a gaudy, four-hit afternoon for the hosts with the bases loaded.

Junis’ line for the afternoon was six runs allowed with only seven outs recorded. Since returning from his hamstring injury in June, he hasn’t regained his stride. That’s especially frustrating since he outgrew expectations that he would be a short-stint opener, and instead blossomed into a full-fledged starter. Now he’s saddled with a five-game stretch of appearances that haven’t gone as many as five innings.

“I just wanted to go out there and try to give the team a chance to win and I didn’t do that,” Junis said. “The offense came back and took the lead. Just as a pitching staff we couldn’t do it today.”

After recording the first out of the inning, Junis gave way to Alex Young, who gave up an RBI single and a RBI groundout to Austin Nola that scored Chris Drury.

After Young stabilized things in the fourth and fifth innings, the Giants answered in the sixth with three runs. Austin Wynns and Joc Pederson came up with RBI hits in that frame that allowed the Giants to regain the lead, 7-6.

But for the second time, the Giants couldn’t back their offense and the Padres came up with a second, massive rally. First, Yunior Marte allowed a three-run homer to Drury, and the Padres regained the lead, 9-7. But Marte remained in the game, and two batters later, he also allowed an RBI double to Ha-Seong Kim. Brandon Belt’s throwing error stained Jarlin Garcia’s entrance, then Garcia became his own worst enemy by allowing Nola’s two-run homer to cap a seven-run rally.

“You don’t see too many six spots and seven spots in the same game,” manager Bob Melvin said of his Padres.

The Giants have Thursday off, and they open a three-game set against the Pirates on Friday night. With 51 games remaining, they’re 7 1/2 games behind the Brewers, the prerequisite hurdle to attempting to catch the Padres for a wild-card spot.