MILWAUKEE -- They like to say that water seeks its own level in baseball, that for every scorching line-drive out, there is a bloop hit somewhere downstream.

Two months into his tenure with the Brewers, Jackie Bradley Jr. has decided otherwise.

“They like to use the saying, ‘It all evens out,’” Bradley said after delivering a walk-off single in the 10th inning for a 6-5 win over the Padres on Thursday afternoon at American Family Field, a rare moment of joy in what has been one of the most trying stretches of his baseball life. “Well, I’m here to tell you that it does not.

“I’ll just tell you the truth. It does not even out, but it was good to get this one today.”

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He wasn’t done.

“My performance has been abysmal,” Bradley said. “There’s no excuse for it. I’m going to continue to come in every single day, put my work in and kind of let the chips fall where they may.”

How has Bradley’s first season since signing in Milwaukee as a free agent been going? Wednesday night was a good indicator. The Brewers had Keston Hiura at third base with one out in the 10th when Bradley scalded a 102.5 mph one-hopper to the right of Padres second baseman Jake Cronenworth, who made a diving stop and threw out Hiura at home plate. The Brewers lost, 2-1.

In Thursday’s series finale, Bradley contributed to the defensive play of the game when he chased down Manny Machado’s game-tying double in the eighth inning and prevented it from being a go-ahead double with a strong throw back to the infield, where shortstop Willy Adames relayed home to catch Eric Hosmer.

But at the plate, Bradley had two strikeouts and two groundouts in his first four at-bats and trudged a .151 batting average to the plate against former Brewers farmhand Miguel Diaz in the 10th.

Once again, there was a runner on third base thanks to -- of all things for a Craig Counsell-managed team -- a sacrifice bunt from a position player. Counsell knew from Hiura’s college coach at UC-Irvine that Hiura was a proficient bunter, and with a slow automatic runner sent to second base to start the inning (Omar Narváez) and Hiura hitting .143 in the Majors this year, the Brewers put the bunt sign on and Hiura executed it beautifully.

Luis Urías popped out on the next pitch, so it came down to Bradley with two outs.

This time, he came through.

It was the first walk-off RBI of Bradley’s career in his 3,448th regular-season plate appearance. He still has work to do to bring down a 31.7 percent strikeout rate and bring up a 4.2 percent walk rate -- the worst marks of his career -- but perhaps it was a start.

“This could have been [Wednesday] night for him, really,” Counsell said. “[The walk-off hit] probably should have been two nights in a row except for an incredible defensive play. This is a guy that’s done a lot of great things in his career. Played in some huge games, been really successful in enormous games, and he’s gotten off to a slow start. There’s no other way to slice it -- it’s been frustrating for him for sure.

“But look, moments of success and being the hero on a day like this, it lets you sleep easier and it puts a smile on your face.”