SAN FRANCISCO -- Gabe Kapler was not happy, and the umpires were about to receive an earful.

José Quintana had been dinged for a balk that allowed Justin Turner to score from third, a call that generated as much confusion as frustration. Kapler passionately pleaded his case to the men in black, but to no avail. The balk wasn’t the reason the Giants lost to the Dodgers, 6-1, on Saturday at Oracle Park, but the sequence spoke to the night’s deflating nature, one that ended with both titans, once again, tied at the top of the division.

As has been the theme, San Francisco couldn’t generate offense in timely spots, going 1-for-8 with runners in scoring position and leaving nine runners on base.

“It feels like we’re able to put little mini rallies together, but we’re not quite getting the big hit that turns into a big inning for us,” Kapler said.

The opportunities were not as plentiful as Friday, but there were opportunities. In both the first and fourth inning, the Giants had runners on second and third with two outs. In both innings, the Giants left men stranded. With two outs and LaMonte Wade Jr. on second base in the seventh inning, pinch-hitter Mike Yastrzemski struck out looking.

Kapler noted that a small silver lining when it comes to runners in scoring position is that one swing of the bat can change the trajectory.

“You get one big hit in one big moment and it tends to be fairly contagious. We’ve seen that from our group throughout the season, but right now, we’re just not getting it done in the biggest moments.”

The offense may have struggled as a whole, but Buster Posey had his best individual game in weeks, notching three hits, driving in the Giants’ lone run of the night and throwing out Mookie Betts on an attempted steal. Posey’s batting average dipped below .300 for the first time since April 24 after going 0-for-5 on Friday, but got that number back up to .304.

“I think anytime you get a little out of whack, for me, the best thing to do is really try to simplify,” Posey said.

Along with their troubles at the plate, the Giants weren’t particularly sharp on defense. Just take what happened before Quintana’s balk.

Turner smoked a sharp grounder that shortstop Mauricio Dubón backhanded, but he airmailed the throw out of play, giving Turner second base. Turner advanced to third base when Quintana crossed up catcher Buster Posey, throwing a fastball instead of a breaking pitch. Finally, the balk. All in all, Turner singled and the Giants gifted him the latter three bases. Needless to say, it wasn’t their finest sequence.

Regarding Quintana’s balk, Kapler said that Quintana did not declare that he was going to pitch out of the windup with the runner on third base.

“He’s got to declare if he’s going to be in a windup and the pitcher gets a reminder,” Kapler said. “In this particular case, a few things got moving quickly prior to that play. My beef was that we would’ve liked a head’s up and a warning.

“This is a great crew. It’s a hard-working crew, a fair crew and I think they certainly wanted to be able to give us a heads up and they just didn’t.”

Kapler ended up using eight pitchers in total during the bullpen game, but said that many of the pitchers who were used today will be available for Sunday. That doesn’t include Tony Watson, Tyler Rogers and Jake McGee, who did not pitch Saturday.

Now, the Giants and Dodgers will have one more crack at one another in the regular season. The rivals have split their 18 matchups this season thus far, so Sunday’s primetime bout won’t just decide this individual series, but the season series as a whole. The two titans have provided memorable moments all season long, and with the Sunday Night Baseball crew coming to town, one more thriller would be an appropriate ending.