LOS ANGELES -- The Giants lead the Majors with 112 errors this year, but it was a mental mistake that loomed largest on Thursday night at Dodger Stadium.

The Dodgers scored the go-ahead run on J.D. Martinez’s sacrifice fly after veteran right fielder Mike Yastrzemski forgot how many outs there were in the sixth inning, sinking the Giants to an excruciating 7-2 loss that dropped them below .500 for the first time since June 4, when they were 29-30.

San Francisco has lost six of seven games to open this 10-game road trip to Colorado, Arizona and Los Angeles, all but extinguishing the club’s playoff hopes. The Giants fell to a Major League-worst 5-26 in road games since July 19, marking their worst 31-game stretch away from home since 1902.

• Games remaining (9): at LAD (3), vs. SD (3), vs. LAD (3)
• Standings update: The Giants (76-77) are three games behind the Cubs (79-74) and Marlins (79-74) for the third and final National League Wild Card spot. They also trail the Reds (79-75) in the race.

“Not crisp enough across the board, obviously,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “It’s just not good enough to win baseball games against good teams. It’s not good enough to win baseball games consistently at all.”

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The Giants were held hitless over 4 2/3 innings by Dodgers rookie Emmet Sheehan, who struck out a career-high nine but gave up one run after issuing a bases-loaded walk to Tyler Fitzgerald in the fifth.

Former Dodger Joc Pederson tied the game at 2-2 with a towering solo shot off lefty Alex Vesia in the sixth, but Los Angeles capitalized on defensive mistakes to regain the lead in the bottom half of the inning.

Will Smith sent a drive into the right-center-field gap that popped out of the glove of a diving Fitzgerald and kicked away for a one-out triple. That brought up Martinez, who lifted a routine fly ball to Yastrzemski in right field. 

Yastrzemski, apparently thinking there were two outs, caught the ball and began to jog back to the Giants’ dugout before realizing that Smith was tagging up and attempting to score from third. His last-minute throw ended up being off the mark, allowing Smith to easily come home and put the Dodgers ahead, 3-2.

“When you cost your team like that, it’s never a good feeling,” Yastrzemski said. “I can’t remember the last time I did it, but it happened. It’s kind of an inexcusable, bad mistake that just can’t happen.”

Los Angeles padded its lead from there, scoring two runs on a pair of wild pitches by Luke Jackson in the seventh before adding two more runs in the eighth. 

The defeat encapsulated the myriad issues that have plagued the Giants and caused them to slip out of the playoff picture in the second half: sloppy defense, a punchless offense and an inability to solve their prolonged road woes. 

“I think there’s a way we can play with a little more edge in every game,” Yastrzemski said. “I think I’ve seen it -- we’ve all seen it -- where we come out firing and things are going well, and then there’s times where we just come out flat.

“I think it’s just an attitude thing where we should take a little more pride in our work. We’ve got to look in the mirror, myself first, more than anybody. It’s just one of those things where I think there are times where we deserve to be embarrassed, kind of like we are right now.”

As they drift closer to elimination, the Giants’ priorities are expected to shift toward development and giving more opportunities to young players who can be part of the mix in 2024 and beyond, including Fitzgerald and shortstop Marco Luciano, who combined to go 2-for-5 with two walks after being recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Thursday. 

Fitzgerald, a 2019 fourth-round Draft pick, is a natural shortstop, like Luciano, but he has played all over the infield and started getting reps in the outfield in the Minors this year. The 26-year-old started in center in his Major League debut and collected his first hit, a two-out double off Shelby Miller, in the seventh. 

“To be here is just a blessing,” Fitzgerald said. “A dream come true.”

Another bright spot was left-hander Kyle Harrison, who gave up two runs on three hits over 5 1/3 innings in his first career start at Dodger Stadium. Harrison struck out two and walked one, but he was pulled after 75 pitches after coming down with an illness that made him a “50-50 kind of gametime decision,” per Kapler.

“He grinded as best he could and fought through that start for us,” Kapler said. “We got him out of there to protect him. Physically, it was plenty for him after the last 24 hours.”