SAN FRANCISCO -- For all their struggles this season, the Giants have always found a way to ramp up the intensity and play competitive baseball when the Dodgers come to town.

After eking out a win over Clayton Kershaw in Friday’s series opener, the Giants once again played a tight game against their longtime rivals Saturday -- through the first seven innings of an eventual 7-2 loss, at least.

The Giants entered the eighth trailing, 3-2, but the Dodgers pulled away after scoring four runs off reliever Dereck Rodríguez, who issued back-to-back bases-loaded walks in his first appearance since May 31. Timely hitting proved elusive for the Giants, who couldn’t convert enough scoring opportunities and finished 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.

“We just couldn’t get that big hit,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Somebody’s got to come through. That’s the difference in the game. They did a better job with runners in scoring position than us.”

• Box score

The Giants will now send ace Madison Bumgarner to the mound in Sunday’s rubber game in hopes of securing their first series win at home since taking two of three from the Dodgers on April 29-May 1.

Here are three key moments from Saturday’s late-afternoon clash at Oracle Park:

1) Garcia goes oppo

Back in February, president of baseball operations Farhan Zaidi noted that one of the early revelations of the spring for him had been Aramis Garcia’s power. Garcia has had limited opportunities to flash that pop with the Giants so far this season, but he showed it Saturday.

With Buster Posey on the injured list with a right hamstring strain, Garcia made his second consecutive start behind the plate and crushed a 1-0 fastball from Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill to the arcade in right field for an opposite-field blast that tied the game at 1 in the third inning.

It was the second home run of the season in 16 at-bats for Garcia, who is expected to platoon with the left-handed-hitting Stephen Vogt until Posey returns.

2) Borderline call breaks in favor of the Dodgers

Donovan Solano’s RBI single briefly gave the Giants a 2-1 lead in the fourth, but the Dodgers came back to threaten in the fifth after Justin Turner singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and moved to third on a groundout by Cody Bellinger.

Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija thought he had the second out of the inning after throwing a 1-2 pitch to Corey Seager that appeared to catch the inside corner, but home-plate umpire Andy Fletcher called it a ball, keeping the at-bat alive. One pitch later, Seager doubled to right field to score Turner and tie the game at 2.

“We had him struck out and he doesn’t get the call there,” Bochy said. “That’s a tough break for us, for Shark. He pitched great.”

Samardzija managed to strand Seager by inducing a flyout from Alex Verdugo and striking out Enrique Hernandez to end the inning, but he exchanged heated words with Fletcher as he walked off the field.

“I’m not going to comment on that,” said Samardzija, who gave up three runs over 5 1/3 innings. “Go back and watch the film. Everybody saw the game, watched it on TV, so I’ll let that speak for itself. I don’t really have much to say about that.”

3) Dodgers capitalize after the Giants couldn’t

The Giants generated a prime scoring opportunity after loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth, but they couldn’t cash in against Hill. Kevin Pillar skied a harmless popup on a first-pitch fastball and Brandon Crawford grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to scuttle the rally and preserve the 2-2 tie.

The Dodgers responded with a bases-loaded threat of their own in the sixth after pinch-hitter Kyle Garlick doubled, Joc Pederson reached on a hit-by-pitch and Max Muncy walked. That brought up Turner, who delivered a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in the go-ahead run and give the Dodgers a lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

“The story was we had traffic out there all day and couldn’t find a way to get a run in,” Bochy said. “What were we, 1-for-11 or something? That’s not going to work.”