SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants closed out an ignominious chapter of their longtime rivalry with the Dodgers on Sunday night.

With a 4-3 loss in 10 innings at Oracle Park, the Giants were handed their third sweep of the year by the Dodgers and hit a historic low by finishing a dismal 4-15 in the season series with their National League West foes. The 15 losses were the most the Giants have suffered in a single season against the Dodgers since moving to the West Coast in 1958.

Los Angeles outscored San Francisco by a 99-55 margin and took 13 of their final 14 games, a stark turn of events from last year, when these two clubs went toe-to-toe in a division race for the ages. The Giants narrowly edged the Dodgers for the NL West crown in 2021, but the gap between the rivals widened into a chasm this year. 

“They definitely outplayed us all year,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “We have to play better if we’re going to beat that team. I have nothing more to say on it. We don’t have any excuses for it. We’ve got to play better.”

The final Giants-Dodgers matchup of the year lasted four hours and 11 minutes and featured a 20-minute rain delay, challenging field conditions and extra-inning drama.

The Dodgers went ahead, 4-2, on Mookie Betts’ tiebreaking RBI double and Max Muncy’s bases-loaded walk in the top of the 10th, but the Giants mounted a last-ditch rally in the home half.

Thairo Estrada drew a leadoff walk off Andre Jackson to put a pair of runners on for Joc Pederson, who came close to delivering a three-run, walk-off homer to right-center field. But the blustery winds appeared to knock down Pederson’s 396-foot drive, resulting in a flyout that would have been a home run in 17 other ballparks.

“I thought Joc had it,” rookie Heliot Ramos said. “I thought it was going out.”

Wilmer Flores brought the Giants within one with an RBI single to right field, but Dodgers lefty Justin Bruihl worked out of a bases-loaded jam by coaxing a groundout from LaMonte Wade Jr. to end the game. Like Pederson, Wade nearly saved the day with a game-winning home run, but his shot down the right-field line ended up curling just foul.

“It’s frustrating to get swept again,” said right-hander Alex Cobb, who did not factor into the decision after giving up two runs over 5 1/3 innings. “But man, they’re really well-built. Every facet of the game, they do the best in the league, whether it’s running the bases, controlling the strike zone, hitting, pitching, defense. Everything is tops in the league. When you’re not playing well, that’s what’s going to happen.”

The Giants caught a couple of bad breaks earlier in the game as well, with Flores and J.D. Davis each hitting doubles in the fourth and eighth innings, respectively, that bounced over the wall and prevented Estrada from scoring from first both times. Los Angeles’ pitching staff held San Francisco to a mere five runs and 13 hits over this three-game series.

“I do think the ground-rule doubles hurt us pretty significantly tonight,” Kapler said. “It’s a real gut-punch. It really changes the entire fabric of the game.”

With the arrival of a more balanced schedule in 2023, the Giants will likely see less of the Dodgers next season, though they’ll still have to find a way to address the glaring talent disparity that exists between the two teams this winter.

“I feel like they’re the better team right now,” Cobb said. “We’ve got a lot of work to do with the guys in the room to reverse that next year. We can’t go through that again.”