By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — The intensity of the North-South rivalry was eerily missing from Oracle Park from the start. Then the Dodgers’ Kenta Maeda kept the Giants in check for five innings, supporting what Clay Bellinger’s been doing all season.

And the Giants seven hits to that point might as well have been distant cousins, they surely didn’t interact, or amount to much more than of parade of stranded baserunners.

Down 2-0, a fourth consecutive loss on the season’s biggest homestand of the season-to-date looked like a distinct possibility. Then in the seventh an opportunity surfaced, and Evan Longoria seized it.

Longoria’s three-run double gave the Giants a lead they would grasp tightly in a 3-2 win that especially for the game’s star was a long time coming.

“The rivalry is a big deal, so it’s a big situation there,” Longoria said. “For me and for this team, every one right now is big. We have a lot of work to do.”

The former Tampa Bay Rays’ star has struggled to reach expectations since being traded to San Francisco at the beginning of last season. On Monday, he started the game on the bench for the second, consecutive day in favor of Pablo Sandoval, who has the struggling team’s only batting average of note. But an injury suffered over the weekend wouldn’t allow the Panda to hit right-handed in the sixth after Maeda departed. That issue forced manager Bruce Bochy to insert Longoria in the sixth, as a pinch-hitter following Buster Posey’s leadoff double.

But reliever Scott Alexander induced Longo to fly out, and the Giants remained scoreless through six.

But in the seventh, Joe Panik singled, Yangervis Solarte doubled, and Brandon Belt drew a walk to load the bases, giving Longoria another shot. Facing reliever Dylan Floro, Longoria delivered a bases-clearing double down the left field line to give the Giants a lead.

“We needed a big hit in that game,” Bochy said. “It was good to have somebody deliver for us in a big way.”

Hopefully, Longoria’s big hit gets him going. The third baseman had just six hits and one RBI at Oracle Park in 12 games prior to getting to Floro. The team has contemplated changes everywhere on the diamond, even with few, obvious options, other than inserting Sandoval at first or third.

But Bochy’s continued to tinker with his lineup and his established patterns nonetheless. Starter Jeff Samardzija lasted just five innings Monday as the team’s brass is weary of exposing the veteran starter to opposing lineups a third time through. So despite allowing two hits and no runs, Samardzija was lifted after just 79 pitches. He remains winless against the Dodgers in seven, career starts.

Brandon Crawford, Kevin Pillar and Gerardo Parra started, but hit sixth, seventh and eighth in deference to their anemic batting averages.

On the other end of the spectrum, Bellinger stayed red hot with two hits, knocking in a run in the sixth, and throwing out Crawford at third as he tried to advance on a hit in the second inning. Bellinger leads all MLB hitters in hits, home runs and batting average after 30 games this season.

Los Angeles’ Walker Buehler and the Giants’ Drew Pomeranz are tabbed to start the second game of the series on Tuesday.