An odd ejection and middle-inning struggles by the San Diego Padres bullpen, coupled with difficulty generating traffic all night, told the tale in a 7-4 loss to the Minnesota Twins 7-4 on Friday night at Target Field.

The Padres (75-60) loaded the bases with nobody out in the seventh inning, with Fernando Tatis Jr. hitting a one-out, two-RBI single to trim the deficit to three. But Luis Arraez hit a liner that Twins (61-73) second baseman Luke Keaschall caught and was able to get the double-play at first to end the threat, then San Diego came up empty with two on and one down in the ninth.

Minnesota took the lead by scoring four runs in the fourth inning after starter Nestor Cortes got ejected following putting the first two men on. Then Kody Clemens hit a bases-loaded grounder that got through Jake Cronenworth and scored a pair on the error, and Trevor Larnach whacked a two-RBI single back through the middle.

“The base hit, the walk is usually the determining factor. Recognized at that point, lets go to the pen, Wandy (Peralta) came in, base hit to (Royce) Lewis then the ground ball that we couldn’t execute, then it got away from there,” said manager Mike Shildt.

“We saw it, we almost never, ever see it. Jake’s played Gold Glove-caliber second base this year, he’s as reliable a defender as we have and it happens.”

Cortes was tossed after a meeting on the mound with the infield and ahead of Mike Shildt making the move to replace him. The starter had allowed five hits and a run with two strikeouts and a walk through three innings of work on 66 pitches and took his third loss, with two more runs credited to him after Peralta allowed two hits and two runs (one earned) across the three batters he faced.

According to Shildt, Cortes was ejected after taking exception to calls made by home plate umpire Manny Gonzalez.

David Morgan was able to get out of the fourth, but allowed a two-out solo home run to Royce Lewis. Then Yuki Matsui allowed the first two batters to reach before Bryon Buxton hit an RBI single to push the hosts lead out to 7-2.

In the three-game Seattle series, the Padres had allowed 11 runs on seven hits and two walks in the fifth inning, echoing a season-long issue in the middle frame where they have an 5.27 ERA and 57 walks — all are the highest marks by the staff in a single inning.

San Diego pitchers didn’t get a one-two-three inning until Alek Jacob retired the hosts in order in the eighth after allowing a lone two-out double in the seventh, getting the final seven outs.

“That was fantastic, he gave us a chance,” Shildt said after the reliever has thrown 3 â…” innings of one hit, one strikeout and one walk since being recalled on August 26. “Did a nice job and got to them… gave us a chance to get the tying run up, we just couldn’t get a big hit.”

The Padres had taken a pair of one-run leads early, with Arraez knocking a sacrifice fly in the third after Cronenworth led off with a single and Freddy Fermin reached on an error. Then in the fourth Jose Iglesias lined an RBI-single to right field that scored Gavin Sheets after a two-out double.

But outside of the pair early runs, the visitors didn’t generate much on the base paths, as outside of the four in the final two innings there were just two runners left on base over the first seven. Starter Zebby Matthews earned his fourth win by going six innings, where he allowed seven hits and three runs (two earned) with three strikeouts and no walks.

Earlier in the day the Padres announced that Xander Bogaerts had placed on the 10-day IL with a non-displaced fracture in his left foot. The shortstop had fouled a pitch off his left foot during the eighth inning against the Mariners on August 27, the most recent of multiple foul balls he had hit off his stride leg. Mason McCoy was recalled from Triple-A El Paso as a corresponding roster move.

In the second game of the series Nick Pivetta (13-4, 2.82 ERA) will take the hill against Minnesota starter Taj Bradley (6-7, 4.95 ERA), with first pitch scheduled for 4:10 p.m. Pacific at Target Field.

This story was updated at 8:42 p.m.