LOS ANGELES -- Less than a week removed from an improbable ninth-inning comeback against All-Star closer Josh Hader, the Giants appeared on the verge of opening the second half with another inspiring win against the rival Dodgers. 

Trailing by five early, the Giants rallied to tie the game on Darin Ruf’s first career grand slam in the seventh inning and briefly went ahead on Thairo Estrada’s bases-loaded walk in the eighth, but their late comeback attempt was foiled by superstar Mookie Betts, who drilled a three-run shot off lefty Jarlín García that lifted the Dodgers to a 9-6 win in Thursday night’s series opener at Dodger Stadium.

• Box score

The Giants took a 6-5 lead into the bottom of the eighth, but the Dodgers tied it up after Gavin Lux doubled and scored on Trayce Thompson’s RBI triple off Dominic Leone. Manager Gabe Kapler summoned García to face the left-handed-hitting Cody Bellinger with two outs, but García issued a four-pitch walk to put runners on the corners for Betts.

“I think if Jarlín was standing right here, he’d tell you that he has to come in and throw strikes to Bellinger,” Kapler said. “That’s the guy he’s there to get. Any base hit there is totally fine, but we need him to come in and throw competitive pitches from the jump. I think Jarlín will own that. It was a major factor in the game, obviously.”

Betts followed by hammering a misplaced changeup from García out to left field for the decisive blow. The six-time All-Star capped his big night by making a sensational diving play in right field to rob Joc Pederson for the final out of the game.

“He’s a special, special player,” third baseman Evan Longoria said. “He’s a guy who you’d like to keep the game away from.”

The loss dropped the Giants one game behind the Phillies and Cardinals for the final National League Wild Card spot, though Kapler said he was still pleased by the fight his club showed after falling behind early.

“When you go down 5-0 against that team and they have all of their bullpen pieces and you climb back in that game and tie the baseball game, I’m really proud in a way that I haven’t felt maybe this much,” Kapler said. “Obviously, we had the big walk-off win in our last series and it was certainly special. But I thought it was really impressive to come back. At the same time, we had some chances to win that game in a couple of different ways. We weren’t able to capitalize on those moments.”

All-Star left-hander Carlos Rodón was charged with five runs on six hits over five innings, though he pitched better than his final line showed. The error-prone Giants were once again burned by poor defense, with the Dodgers taking advantage of a misplay from rookie Luis González, who lost Justin Turner’s fly ball to right field in the twilight with two outs in the fifth. Turner’s ball ended up going over the head of González for a two-run double, kicking off a three-run inning that stretched the Dodgers’ lead to 5-0.

“There’s just nothing you can do about that,” Kapler said. “I’ve been there as an outfielder. You can look up and see nothing.”

With Thursday’s outing, Rodón reached 110 innings on the season, giving him the ability to opt out of his two-year, $44 million deal and re-enter the free-agent market at the end of the season if he chooses.

“You still want to keep pitching,” Rodón said. “There’s a lot of season left. That was just the start of the second half. There’s a lot more games to be won.”

The Giants mustered only one hit through their first six innings before Longoria finally breathed life into the offense with a solo shot off Dodgers reliever Phil Bickford in the seventh. A walk, a single and a hit-by-pitch then loaded the bases for Ruf, who hammered a misplaced fastball from lefty Alex Vesia out to left-center field to tie the game, 5-5. It was Ruf’s 10th home run of the season and his third in as many games.

San Francisco then went ahead, 6-5, on Estrada’s bases-loaded walk off Evan Phillips in the eighth, but the bullpen ultimately couldn’t hold the slim lead. Giants relievers entered Thursday with a 5.04 ERA in July, which ranked 26th in the Majors, though the group could soon be bolstered by veteran Trevor Rosenthal, who joined the club on a one-year, $4.5 million deal. Rosenthal is rehabbing from a left hamstring strain, but he could turn into an impact arm in the second half and give the Giants another high-leverage option to pair with closer Camilo Doval.

“There’s no quit in this team, you can see that,” Longoria said. “Especially the wins we’ve had lately. We definitely need to, as an offense, get it going and take the pressure off the pitchers. If we can get going the first couple of innings and try and get ahead and relieve some of that, it’ll be a lot better for us.”