SAN FRANCISCO — For three straight games, the Giants have looked dead in the water. For three straight games, the Giants have stormed back to life.

On Wednesday, they trailed the St. Louis Cardinals by five runs going into the bottom of the eighth before putting up six runs to record their first three-game sweep of the season. On Friday, they were one swing away from erasing a six-run deficit, a comeback effort that ultimately fell short. And on Saturday, the Giants, again, would not go away.

The Giants entered the bottom of the eighth trailing by four runs, but they changed the complexion of the ballgame in a stretch of three batters. Rookie catcher Drew Cavanaugh led off the inning with his first major-league homer in his 145th career plate appearance. Two batters later, Drew Gilbert sent a two-run shot into McCovey Cove on the hop. In a blink, San Francisco’s 7-3 deficit was cut to 7-6.

That would be the final score. Despite four homers and another valiant effort, San Francisco fell short of completing a comeback against the Padres for the second time in the last two days.

“I think you have the foundation of what you’re looking for,” said manager Tony Vitello. “The old ‘you have to build a house brick by brick’ or whatever — you want a strong foundation. I think there’s obviously things within each of those games we’d definitely like to do better. … If the foundation is there, you can feel good about the place you’re coming to work at and the guys you’re going into … battle with.”

Rafael Devers remained blistering hot by hitting his 37th home run of the season, a towering two-run shot that landed in the right-field arcade. Devers, who has 11 home runs in his last 18 games, is now just two RBIs away from becoming the first Giant since Buster Posey in 2012 with at least 100 RBIs in a single season.

For Vitello, Devers’ home run output is all the more impressive given Oracle Park’s propensity for suppressing home runs. Earlier this week, for example, Devers had a 400-foot double against the Cardinals that would’ve been a home run in every other ballpark.

“No one else has about four or five balls … that would be home runs everywhere except for here,” Vitello said of Devers, whose 36 doubles are tied for the most in the majors. “He loves it here. He’s also a doubles guy and things like that, but it’s interesting that he’s where he’s at. If you wanted to have fun with it and add those extra four or five, he’s kind of right in the midst of being the leader for [home runs].”

While Devers has been hitting homers left and right, Cavanaugh had to wait until his 50th career game to send one over the fence.

With San Francisco trailing by four in the eighth, Cavanaugh chipped into San Diego’s lead by turning on a four-seam fastball from Bradgley Rodriguez and sending the heater into the right-field arcade.

“I couldn’t stop smiling, to be honest,” Cavanaugh said. “It’s one of those moments you dream about your whole life. It’s sweet.”

Along with Devers, one of the Giants’ (62-87) bright spots was Jonah Cox’s defense at second base. Cox, a primary center fielder, has only appeared in eight career games at second base as a professional, but the 25-year-old rookie continues to look like a natural at the position.

In the top of the fifth, Cox ranged to his right on a grounder up the middle by Jackson Merrill, backhanded the ball and threw across his body to record the out. Two innings later, Cox made a sliding stop to deny Ethan Salas his first major-league hit, then had a diving grab to deny Jake Cronenworth an RBI single.

“It’d be nice to take a look after tomorrow’s game and kind of see how we can spread the jam on the toast evenly,” Vitello said. “One way to put our most competitive lineup against right-handed pitching [is to] make sure we’ve got three lefties in the outfield. It’s hard to leave Cox out of the mix because he can change the game in so many different ways.”

Along with Devers, Cavanaugh and Gilbert, Shay Whitcomb accounted for the Giants’ fourth home run of the day, a solo shot in the second inning. This game marked the fifth time this season San Francisco has hit at least four homers in a game.

Giants rookie left-hander Cesar Perdomo, fresh off six scoreless innings against the Mets, was roughed up in his second career start. Over 4 2/3 innings, Perdomo allowed five runs on 10 hits and served up a solo homer to Merrill.

One of the runs Perdomo allowed was the product of a mental mistake in the fourth inning. With the Padres’ Samad Taylor on first, Fernando Tatis Jr. hit a very weak grounder down the third-base line. Taylor was racing toward third when Perdomo fielded the ball. But, he chose to throw to first base, where Tatis was safe by a step, and Perdomo’s decision allowed Taylor to advance to third. The next batter, Dustin Harris, drove in Taylor on a sacrifice fly.

“Part of the game is the adrenaline,” Perdomo said through team interpreter Erwin Higueros. “If I think about it, maybe I will, maybe I won’t, but it’s things that just happen.”

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Logan Webb (8-8, 4.10 ERA) will make his final appearance against the Padres this season as the Giants try to avoid being swept.