SAN FRANCISCO – Walker Buehler’s dominance of the Giants ended with a thud Sunday when the right-hander was handed his worst loss of the season, 6-4, dropping the Dodgers back into second place in the NL West.

Unbeaten in his first 12 career games against San Francisco, Buehler was hit hard and often before manager Dave Roberts pulled him after only three innings in the series finale between the two playoff contenders.

“They were just on him tonight,” Roberts said. “There were some missed locations, there was some tough luck and also some quality contact. They took good at-bats against him.”

The schedule won’t get any easier for the Dodgers from here, either. After losing two of three at Oracle Park, Los Angeles heads to St. Louis for four games with the Cardinals before returning to Chavez Ravine for three against the San Diego Padres.

“We have a month left,” Buehler said. “This is a big game ... but what it boils down to is playing a better month of baseball than [the Giants] do. That’s our goal, that’s my goal.”

Buehler’s final line: seven hits, six runs and 53 pitches -- the first time since Sept. 2, 2019, that Buehler had allowed more than five runs. He had given up six earned runs over his previous five starts combined.

The offense wasn’t much better. Los Angeles stranded two runners in the second inning then left the bases loaded in the third when Will Smith hit a first-pitch popup and again in the fifth when Chris Taylor struck out swinging.

Albert Pujols hit a pinch-hit two-run home run in the ninth, the 678th of his career. Trea Turner singled to extend his hitting streak to 12 games and Smith drove in two runs for the Dodgers with an RBI single in the second and a bases-loaded walk in the fifth.

“We did a good job of building innings and just couldn’t finish it,” Roberts said. “We let those guys off the hook. They found a way to prevent runs and win the series. It’s baseball and we have to regroup.”

It was Buehler’s outing that stood out most. The loss was his first since Aug. 3 and gave the Giants the tiebreaker advantage should the two teams finish the regular season with the same record. San Francisco would host a one-game playoff at Oracle Park to determine the division winner if it gets that far.

In his previous five starts against the Giants this season -- three of them wins -- Buehler had given up only three runs over 34 innings. San Francisco matched that in the second inning alone after Brandon Belt homered off Buehler in the first.

The Giants chased him in the third after Buehler gave up back-to-back doubles and an RBI single.

Buehler called it one of the worst games he’s pitched in a long time.

“Not a whole lot was very good,” Buehler said. “They hit balls hard, they hit balls soft. I couldn’t get ahead in the count. That’s been one of the biggest things this year, getting ahead. Didn’t do that today.”

Buehler’s ERA jumped from a Majors-leading 2.05 to 2.31, still solid numbers for a pitcher who is among the leading candidates for the National League Cy Young Award.

Price is right

David Price’s sore left arm has apparently improved. Two days after being scratched from a scheduled start amid talk of a potential trip to the injured list, Price entered Sunday’s game as a reliever in the sixth inning. Price was a little wild -- he walked three -- but worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth and retired five batters.

“He hadn’t pitched in a while so you’d expect for him to not be as sharp as he’s going to be,” Roberts said.