SAN DIEGO -- The Giants’ four-game opening series against the Padres served as a microcosm of the shifting power dynamics in the National League West.

While the Giants largely stayed stagnant over the offseason, the Padres thrust themselves back into relevancy by signing Manny Machado to a 10-year, $300 million contract and promoting 20-year-old shortstop Fernando Tatis Jr. to the Majors. Armed with the best farm system in baseball, they are poised to develop into a force for years to come.

That spells trouble for the Giants, who saw the rising Padres rally for a 3-1 win in Sunday’s series finale at Petco Park and take three out of four games in their first matchup of the season.

With the game tied at 1, manager Bruce Bochy called for an intentional walk of Eric Hosmer to load the bases with one out in the seventh inning. Bochy then summoned right-handed reliever Sam Dyson to face Machado, who bounced a softly hit grounder to short. Shortstop Brandon Crawford flipped to second for the forceout, but Machado narrowly beat out second baseman Joe Panik’s relay throw to first, allowing Hunter Renfroe to score the go-ahead run from third.

“It wasn’t quite hit hard enough,” Bochy said. “The guys did a good job on it. It was close. Dyson, he did a nice job. We just didn’t play our cleanest baseball, and when you’re not hitting much, there’s no margin for error. We’re not scoring a lot of runs, and it caught up with us today.”

The Giants, who produced only two hits on Sunday, were held to five runs in their first four games of the season. Only two of those runs came off Padres starters Eric Lauer, Joey Lucchesi, Nick Margevicius and Chris Paddack -- two of whom were making their MLB debuts.

“I don’t know if any of them have stuff that’s going to overwhelm you, but they know how to pitch,” first baseman Brandon Belt said. “That’s tough to gauge when you haven’t seen somebody. They obviously did a great job.”

Much of the hype surrounding Sunday’s finale centered on Paddack’s debut, but the day also marked a notable milestone for veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija. After missing most of last season with a right shoulder injury, Samardzija returned to a Major League mound for the first time since July 14 and equaled Paddack with five innings of one-run ball.

“All in all, it was a positive,” said Samardzija, who walked four and struck out two. “I would have liked to work a little deeper, but that spot came up there and we needed a run. They made me throw a lot of pitches. It’s a tough lineup. They’ve got some real pro hitters over there and they’ve pieced it together. It’ll be a fun team to face in the future.”

The lone run against Samardzija was unearned, as third baseman Pablo Sandoval committed a throwing error that allowed Franchy Cordero to advance to second with two outs in the fifth. Cordero later scored on Hosmer’s RBI single to tie the game at 1.

“He just double-clutched there and didn’t have a good grip,” Bochy said of Sandoval. “It sailed on him.”

Paddack, who is ranked the Padres’ No. 5 prospect by MLB Pipeline, racked up seven strikeouts and faced the minimum over four innings before Crawford poked a one-out single through the right side to give the Giants their first hit of the afternoon in the fifth. Sandoval subsequently gave the Giants a 1-0 lead with an RBI double.

It was an impressive at-bat from Sandoval, who fouled off six consecutive 0-2 pitches before driving a low curveball over the head of center fielder Manuel Margot.

“Every time you see Pablo taking too many fouls, he’s going to get a base hit or a double or something,” right fielder Gerardo Parra said. “He’s a great hitter, man.”

The Giants will need more timely hits to come their way, as they will now head to Los Angeles to face the formidable Dodgers, who pummeled the D-backs’ pitching staff for 42 runs in their opening four-game series.

“Our pitching was good this series, it really was,” Bochy said. “They all gave us a chance to win. We’re just not clicking yet offensively.”

Parra robs Paddack

Parra, a two-time Gold Glove Award winner, made a fantastic throw from right field to throw out Paddack at first base in the second inning, denying the young Padres hurler his first Major League hit and saving the Giants a run.

Paddack came up to bat with the bases loaded and two outs and lined a 2-1 slider from Samardzija to right. Parra quickly fielded the ball and fired to Belt, who made a nice pick to nail Paddack by half a step.

“I was just cussing to myself for letting the pitcher get a hit,” Samardzija said. “It’s funny how that works. Sometimes the unexpected happens.”

It was the 100th career outfield assist for Parra, who later added to his total in the fourth by doubling off Wil Myers after he rounded second on a fly ball from Margot and failed to re-touch the bag on his way back to first.