Using git hooks add the [+semver:minor] string to commit messages to bump the minor version. When semver string is not added the only patch version is bumped up.
gitversion
Automatic Semantic Versioning using GitVersion, Azure DevOps Pipeline and Merge (no FF) Pullrequest Merge type
You can use GitVersion (Mainline Development) with Azure DevOps pipeline (using PR templates) to create semantic versions for the artifacts. This works well with Basic Merge type Pull Request.