SAN FRANCISCO -- In his pregame session with reporters Saturday, Giants manager Bruce Bochy spoke about his desire to score more early runs and provide his pitchers with a bit more breathing room in the second half of the season.

“The type of games that we play, so close, I wish we created a little bigger margin of error,” Bochy said.

The Giants once again found themselves operating without much of a safety net after mustering only five hits over seven innings against D-backs right-hander Zack Greinke, and it showed after they were burned by a pair of costly errors in a 4-3 loss at Oracle Park.

“They’re not pretty runs, but they count,” Bochy said. “That was the difference in the game.”

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Stephen Vogt crushed a towering three-run home run to cut the deficit to one in the bottom of the ninth, but it was too little, too late for the Giants, who still will have a chance to secure their first winning month since last June when they send Madison Bumgarner to the mound in Sunday’s series finale.

The National League West foes spent the first six innings in a scoreless deadlock before Arizona finally got on the board in the seventh with the help of a misplay from center fielder Kevin Pillar.

Tim Locastro led off the inning with an infield single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt before Adam Jones skied a fly ball to center field. Pillar came racing in and called off right fielder Mike Yastrzemski at the last second, but the ball ended up hitting off Pillar’s glove, putting a pair of runners in scoring position with one out for the D-backs.

“Obviously, it’s unfortunate,” Pillar said. “I take a lot of pride in being a good defender, being a center fielder, and taking charge out there. The ball ended up fading a little more to right field than maybe I had anticipated.”

Reliever Sam Dyson fielded a comebacker from Ketel Marte and ran to tag out Locastro as he tried to score from third, but the D-backs managed to capitalize on Pillar’s error after Eduardo Escobar delivered a two-out single to left field to give his club a 1-0 lead.

Arizona came back to expand its lead in the eighth against Mark Melancon. With the bases loaded and one out, Ildemaro Vargas bounced an RBI infield single to shortstop Brandon Crawford, who made a nice diving stop before attempting to throw to third for the forceout. But Crawford’s throw sailed past Pablo Sandoval, allowing a second, unearned run to score. Adam Jones followed with another RBI single to put the D-backs ahead 4-0.

Pomeranz continues upward trend

One bright spot of the night was left-hander Drew Pomeranz, who did not factor into the decision after striking out seven over five scoreless innings.

“He gave us what we needed,” Bochy said. “He shut them down going against a good pitcher, and that’s what has to happen. We got our guys lined up. They got that cheap run there in the seventh and, of course, the eighth is the one that did us in.”

After allowing a career-high eight runs over 1 1/3 innings in his final start of May, Pomeranz decided to start throwing from a slightly higher arm slot, an adjustment that yielded a 3.33 ERA and 34 strikeouts over 24 1/3 innings in five June outings.

“The shape of my fastball has been totally different,” Pomeranz said. “Before, I was getting tail on my four-seam when I tried to glove side, and now it’s almost going the opposite way, which is what I’m used to. It helps them not barrel up the ball. I think that’s been a big part of that change. My curveball wasn’t very good at all today, so I think that good fastball I’ve had these last few [outings] has really helped me strike some guys out.”

Pomeranz continues to struggle with efficiency, as he tends to induce a lot of foul balls that quickly elevate his pitch count, but if he continues to perform well, he could begin to attract the interest of contenders who are looking to bolster their rotations ahead of the July 31 Trade Deadline.

“I’m just trying to keep building off those outings, go forward from there and not take any steps back,” Pomeranz said.