WASHINGTON — The Nationals’ offensive floor this season will be determined by the talents of CJ Abrams, Daylen Lile and James Wood — the team’s best hitters.

Their ceiling, however, will be determined by the development and performance of the hitters around those three. That was apparent in the Nationals’ 7-6 loss to the San Francisco Giants in 12 innings on Saturday at Nationals Park.

In the final four innings, the Giants intentionally walked Abrams and Wood three times, daring any of the other Washington hitters to beat them. And, for the most part, they couldn’t.

“We had plenty of opportunities to win that game,” manager Blake Butera said. “I thought we should’ve won that game. We just didn’t execute. That’s what it came down to.”

The Nationals practiced bunting before batting practice Saturday and baserunning during it. The practice, they hoped, would translate into the game.

With the Nationals trailing by one, Jorbit Vivas doubled to open the ninth inning and advanced to third on a Drew Millas flyout. The Giants, afraid of Wood’s bat, walked him to face Curtis Mead.

Mead hit into a fielder’s choice, and Vivas was thrown out at home. In the ensuing at-bat, Brady House hit a game-tying single into center field.

“It was nice to tie it up there in the ninth, but I just knew that we needed one more run to come across, too,” House said.

Mead turned to watch center fielder Drew Gilbert, thinking the throw was going home. Third base coach Victor Estevez signaled for him to slide to the right side of the base. Instead, Mead didn’t slide and was tagged out to thwart a potential threat.

“I have to slide, 100%,” Mead said. “I know that. It’s just a complete mistake.”

“It can’t happen. It just can’t happen,” Butera said. “Haven’t had a chance to talk about what went down there, but watching from the dugout, we got to slide.”

The Nationals’ bullpen did its part. Richard Lovelady pitched a scoreless 10th. But, after the Giants walked Abrams, Lile and Nasim Nuñez struck out before Vivas grounded out. Cionel Perez pitched a scoreless 11th. But the Nationals again didn’t score.

The Giants broke through in the 12th on a Matt Chapman single. The Nationals didn’t score in the bottom of the frame. They finished 1-for-10 with two walks in the final three innings.

“I don’t know if it was just the moment but, yeah, it was a bit uncharacteristic,” Butera said. “We had the guys we wanted up at the plate at the right time. Just didn’t execute.”

In those frames, the Nationals also failed to get two bunts down with no one out. Jacob Young missed two attempts in the 10th before hitting a single. Millas struck out in the 11th and slammed his bat into the ground.

Butera said it seemed his team was trying too hard to be perfect with the bunts. He said the team might start simulating a game atmosphere in practice by using a pitching machine that has a higher velocity.

Wood opened the game with a first-pitch homer that landed in the visitors’ bullpen. The Giants responded in the top of the second when Drew Gilbert hit a two-out single off Cade Cavalli.

The Nationals took advantage of a Willy Adames error in the third to score four runs. Wood drove in the first when he was hit by a pitch. Luis García Jr. hit a two-run single, then José Tena added an RBI single and the Nationals led 5-1.

That provided a cushion for Cavalli. So far this season, there have been two primary themes in Cavalli’s outings: his command and his inefficiency.

This spring, Cavalli had no trouble with his command. Yet in his starts, especially his previous one, he hasn’t had a strong feel for his pitches. Butera said the coaching staff planned to sit down with Cavalli to assess how to get him back on track.

Cavalli threw 16 of 20 pitches for strikes in the first inning. But the Giants wore him down, fouling off 22 pitches. He generated only nine whiffs in 44 swings. The Giants also tagged him for two more runs in the third when Casey Schmitt hit an RBI double and Lile bobbled the ball, allowing Chapman to score on the Nationals’ second error of the frame.

Cavalli allowed seven hits and three runs — one earned — over four innings and struck out five. He has completed five innings in only one of five starts.

“Just want to supply us with some length, and attacking the zone does that,” Cavalli said. “I just got to give credit to the Giants for fouling it off today.”

Mitchell Parker allowed a game-tying two-run homer to Heliot Ramos in the sixth. Rafael Devers hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh

After the drama of the final innings, Abrams and Lile had chances to come through in the 10th. But Abrams flied out to left field and finished 0-for-6 with a walk. Lile, who finished 2-for-6, struck out looking.

“Ideally, you come out on the winning end of this, but there’s a lot of teaching moments in that game today,” Butera said. “Things we did OK, things we didn’t do well. Things we need to do better if we want to be a winning ballclub. And those are things we’re going to talk about tomorrow.”

This article has been updated.