SAN DIEGO _ Rain pushed back the start of Sunday's game by 26 minutes, something that doesn't happen very often at Petco Park.
Then Cal Quantrill gave the opposing team a head start, which has happened every time he has pitched in the major leagues.
Quantrill's bad habit put the Padres in a hole, and Joe Musgrove and three relievers kept them there, as the Pirates finished off the teams' four-game series with a 6-4 victory that gave the Padres a losing record (23-24) for the first time this season.
The 46 games at .500 or better was the longest into a season they had gone without dipping below even since 2007.
Musgrove did not allow a hit until Eric Hosmer's single leading off the fifth inning. Greg Garcia's double to start the seventh was the Padres' next hit and started a four-run frame.
Alex Dickerson's single scored Garcia, and after Manny Machado popped out, Musgrove fielded Eric Hosmer's topped grounder in front of the mound and made an ill-advised wide throw to second base that enabled Dickerson to slide in safely.
Hunter Renfroe's 11th homer of the season got the Padres to within a run and drove Musgrove (3-4) from the game.
The Padres have rightly been proud of their resilience this season.
Nine of their first 13 victories were secured with runs scored in the seventh inning or later. They won games in which they surrendered leads of five and four runs. Unlike what seemed possible in recent seasons, they have on a few occasions shown the ability to play poorly and still be victorious.
But what would have been required to come back the past two days was another level of fortitude, like the difference between rescuing a kitten in a magnolia tree and scaling Yosemite's El Capitan.
They were left with their fingertips just over the edge, as Austin Hedges' strikeout left Renfroe standing at first base at games' end.
This weekend was reminiscent of too many games the past three years, wherein the Padres were down by a mountain of runs early.
The Pirates went up 5-0 in the third inning Saturday night against Nick Margevicius. Sunday, it was 5-0 before the first Padres player stood in the batter's box.
The continuing first-inning horror for Quantrill was not ideal for him.
By optioning Margevicius to Double-A on Sunday morning, the Padres in essence told Quantrill he had a job to keep or lose.
He lost his grip on it six batters in, if not before.
Adam Frazier led off with a single and moved to second base on Melky Cabrera sacrifice bunt. Quantrill then went from 3-0 to a strikeout of Gregory Polanco before the inning devolved from might-be-OK to as bad as any has been for the Padres since last Aug. 16, when the Diamondbacks put up five runs on Jacob Nix.
Josh Bell singled home Frazier. Bryan Reynolds singled. Colin Moran homered.
After a single by Elias Diaz, Quantrill got No. 8 hitter Cole Tucker on a grounder to second.
Quantrill has allowed one, two and five runs in the first inning of his three major league starts. Opponents are 11 for 18 with three doubles, a triple and a home run against him in the first inning.
As he had in his first two starts, he was a different pitcher (or at least got far different results) after the first inning ended.
Following his 39-pitch first, Quantrill retired the three Pirates he faced in the second on seven pitches, the four he faced in the third inning on 14 pitches and the four he faced in the fourth on 18 pitches.
He allowed a run on two hits in the fifth, his final inning. He left having thrown 102 pitches and allowed the five runs on eight hits and two walks.
