Detroit Tigers lose to San Francisco Giants, 3-1, in Brant Hurter-led bullpen game

Another day, another bullpen game, another loss.

The 11 relievers in the bullpen have stepped up with only two starters in the rotation, but losing bullpen games has been the story for the Detroit Tigers throughout the past few weeks of the season, dating back to late July.

The Tigers lost again, 3-1, to the San Francisco Giants on Saturday in the second of three games in the series at Oracle Park. The Giants didn't score until the fifth inning, but a three-run fifth was more than enough to take down the struggling Tigers.

The Tigers (55-63) have dropped three games in a row.

They've won just six of 19 games since July 21.

In Saturday's loss, the Tigers used four relievers.

Right-hander Alex Faedo served as an opener, but he walked three of the first four batters he faced to load the bases with one out. He escaped the jam with back-to-back outs.

Still, Faedo needed 31 pitches to record three outs, so he didn't return for the second inning.

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Replacing Faedo, left-hander Brant Hurter — who worked as a starter in Triple-A Toledo — appeared in his second MLB game. He allowed three runs on four hits and one walk with five strikeouts across five innings, throwing 76 pitches.

"When we have these opportunities, we want to see if guys can take advantage of it," manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in San Francisco, when asked about Hurter's performance. "He threw enough offspeed, enough sinkers, certainly the first time through (the order), to make it tough on them. I'm very appreciative of the effort in a unique role for him. He's used to starting the game, so coming in and getting us five innings is important."

The Giants scored all three runs in the fifth inning, jumpstarted by back-to-back singles from Mike Yastrzemski and Jerar Encarnación. The pair of singles paid off for the Giants when Brett Wisely hit Hurter's first-pitch sweeper that hung over the middle of the strike zone for a two-run double, taking a 2-1 lead.

After that, the Giants extended their lead to 3-1 with Heliot Ramos' RBI single off Hurter's sinker.

Hurter avoided further damage in the fifth inning, then he returned to produce a scoreless sixth inning. It was an impressive response from the rookie after the three-run fifth.

The lone run

The Tigers finished with five hits and two walks.

Right-hander Logan Webb retired nine batters in a row before Akil Baddoo — called up from Triple-A Toledo to replace an injured Wenceel Pérez — hit a leadoff single in the fourth inning.

The Tigers, though, didn't score until the fifth inning.

"He was a lot for us to deal with," Hinch said. "He did a really good job. He's known for a lot of things, but he comes right at you. He gets the ball on the ground and misses bats. He's one of the better pitchers on this staff and across the league, and he was too much for us to deal with."

Parker Meadows battled for seven pitches and smoked a sinker for a triple. Running on contact, Meadows scored for a 1-0 lead when Dillon Dingler hit a soft ground ball up the middle, as the Giants failed to throw Meadows out at the plate.

There was an opportunity to tack on runs after Justyn-Henry Malloy's double and Gio Urshela's walk in the sixth inning, but Giants third baseman Matt Chapman robbed Bligh Madris of an RBI single with a leaping catch to end the inning.

Webb, a first-time All-Star this season, allowed one run on four hits and one walk with eight strikeouts across seven innings, throwing 110 pitches. He generated 17 whiffs on 57 swings — a 29.8% whiff rate — with eight changeups, three sinkers and six sweepers.

Webb owns a 3.32 ERA in 25 starts.

In the ninth inning, Madris walked and Meadows singled with one out against right-handed reliever Ryan Walker, but Dillon Dingler and Javier Báez struck out to end the game.

Contact Evan Petzold at epetzold@freepress.com or follow him @EvanPetzold.

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