It wasn’t a start, but it was an MLB debut to remember for Detroit Tigers left-hander Brant Hurter.

The 25-year-old, a starter who had a 5.80 ERA across 71⅓ innings in Triple-A Toledo, joined the Tigers’ 11-man bullpen as a bulk reliever. He appeared in his first game Sunday against the Kansas City Royals, completing three scoreless innings with three strikeouts.

Hurter impressed, but a bad pitch from a different reliever resulted in the Tigers losing to the Royals, 3-2, in Sunday’s finale of four games to drop the series at Comerica Park.

“Tough loss because we were in position to win,” manager A.J. Hinch said, “and we had the avenues to get to the finish line. That’s a gut punch.”

WELCOME TO THE SHOW: Tigers promote left-hander Brant Hurter from Triple-A Toledo for MLB debut

Right-handed reliever Shelby Miller, a 12-year veteran, surrendered a three-run home run with two outs in the ninth inning. He hung a first-pitch splitter to pinch-hitter MJ Melendez, who drove the ball over the wall in right field.

“They’re going to unleash all those lefties at any point,” Hinch said. “Shelby has given up eight hits to lefties on the year coming into that inning. Two two-strike hits, and then a bad split to a hitter that can hit the ball out of the ballpark, and it changes the whole landscape of the game.”

The Tigers (53-60) have lost 10 of their past 14 games.

Hurter handled the fifth, sixth and seventh innings against the Royals without issuing a walk while working around two hits, throwing 26 of 36 pitches for strikes. He generated six whiffs on 19 swings with one sinker, two sweepers and three fastballs.

His three scoreless innings protected the Tigers’ slim lead.

“The big thing with me is my balls move all which ways,” Hurter said. “Throwing strikes and getting ahead is the big thing. I’ll get soft contact if I do that. If they’re able to spit on certain pitches, I’m a lot less successful.”

Hurter allowed singles to Vinnie Pasquantino and Hunter Renfroe in the sixth inning, but he escaped trouble by striking out Paul DeJong swinging with an up-and-in 92.9 mph four-seam fastball.

Before that, Hurter — who is still learning to command his changeup to right-handed hitters — struck out Salvador Pérez for the first strikeout of his MLB career. He fanned the veteran catcher, a nine-time All-Star in his 13-year career, with a down-and-away sweeper for the second out in the sixth inning.

“It was super cool,” Hurter said. “I think I threw a sinker away that he chased, so I threw a slider off that and was able to get the swing and miss. That was a really cool moment for me.”

Hurter also struck out Dairon Blanco looking with a sweeper to complete his three-inning relief appearance.

“Brant was great,” catcher Dillon Dingler said. “He was controlling the zone really, really well with pretty much every shape that he had. I was super happy for him. He had some great innings out of the bullpen there. I know he’s probably floating right now. I’m really looking forward to what he can do moving forward.”

LET KEITH COOK: Tigers’ Colt Keith wins American League Rookie of the Month for July

The Tigers removed Hurter — in favor of right-handed reliever Will Vest — before he could have a second matchup with the top of the Royals’ batting order, anchored by superstar Bobby Witt Jr., in the eighth inning.

Vest did his job, but Miller didn’t take care of his business.

In the ninth inning, Miller allowed a leadoff single to Renfroe and a one-out single to Freddy Fermin. The Royals ended up with runners on the corners and two outs. Melendez stepped to the plate as a pinch-hitter, representing the go-ahead run, then crushed a three-run home run.

After the homer, Miller owns a 5.85 ERA in 40 innings this season.

[ MUST LISTEN: Make “Days of Roar” your go-to Detroit Tigers podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) ]

Quality plate appearances

The Tigers scored one run in the second inning and one run in the fifth inning.

Zach McKinstry sparked the second-inning run with a two-out triple on a first-pitch fastball from right-hander Michael Wacha. Dingler, a rookie catcher playing in his third game, worked a four-pitch walk to extend the inning. With runners on the corners, Gio Urshela hit a down-and-away cutter for a ground-ball single into left field, which scored McKinstry from third base for a 1-0 lead.

SKUBAL DAY: Why Tigers’ Tarik Skubal didn’t get to face Bobby Witt Jr. in 7th inning

A leadoff walk from Javier Báez sparked the fifth-inning run. He advanced to third on Colt Keith’s one-out single, and then he scored on Matt Vierling’s sacrifice fly to right field, taking a 2-0 lead.

The Tigers then loaded the bases with an ensuing single from Justyn-Henry Malloy and a walk by Bligh Madris, but McKinstry grounded out to strand the runners.

There was also an opportunity to extend the lead in the sixth inning, with runners on the corners for Wenceel Pérez, but Pérez grounded into an inning-ending double play.

Wacha allowed two runs on seven hits and four walks with two strikeouts across six innings, throwing 99 pitches. The Tigers had quality plate appearances throughout those six innings but failed to get the big swing to put up a crooked number on the scoreboard.

Two relievers before Hurter

The Tigers didn’t bring Hurter into the game until the fifth inning, even though he has worked as a starting pitcher throughout his career in the minor leagues.

“He attacked the strike zone with his best stuff,” Hinch said of Hurter. “He used all of this pitches, which was great. He can fall in the trap of falling in love with the sinker to get the ball on the ground because when it does, you want more of the same. … I though the handled the emotions of today extremely well.”

Instead, the Tigers started right-handed reliever Alex Faedo.

The combination of Faedo and right-handed reliever Brenan Hanifee completed the first four innings. Faedo covered 1⅔ scoreless innings, working around two hits and one walk with three strikeouts; Hanifee covered 2⅓ scoreless innings with one strikeout.

Faedo owns a 3.69 ERA across 53⅔ innings this season.

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

Listen to our weekly Tigers show “Days of Roar” every Monday afternoon on demand at freep.com, Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen to podcasts. And catch all of our podcasts and daily voice briefing at freep.com/podcasts.

Detroit — In baseball, victory can always be given or taken away with one swing. During a season, a team can go through being on both sides of this situation multiple times.

For the Tigers, they found themselves on both sides within 24 hours. After snatching victory Saturday night with a walk-off hit, they watched as one swing turned the tides against them.

The Tigers allowed a two-out three-run homer in the top of the ninth, leaving Comerica Park on Sunday with a 3-2 loss to the Royals in their last game before a six-game road trip.

BOX SCORE: Royals 3, Tigers 2

MLB STANDINGS

It was MJ Melendez who left a hero for Kansas City, as his 362-foot home run to right field off reliever Shelby Miller gave the Royals the lead. Now the Tigers (53-60) leave home going 2-7 on the homestand, heading out to Seattle on Tuesday.

“We got to get on the plane, we’re going to head as far as you can go, get away and go to Seattle and we have a tough matchup there with elite pitching after the off-day,” Tigers manager AJ Hinch said.

Miller was kept in the game even as Jason Foley was warming up in the bullpen, but Hinch said he wanted Miller to go through one more batter before bringing in Foley because he liked the matchup Miller had against the lefty Melendez. But the strategy doesn’t always goes as planned.

“Today’s emotion is obviously disappointment because if he pops that ball up, if he rolls over to first, if he swings and misses and the at-bat continues and we get him out,” Hinch said, “this is a completely different outcome, we’re getting on the plane with completely different happiness. It’s part of the game.”

Today wasn’t just about how the game ended for the Tigers. It was the major-league debut for Brant Hurter, who pitched three shutout innings with three strikeouts while allowing only two hits. Hurter pitched the longest out of any reliever Sunday, as the Tigers went to the bullpen, giving their starters an extra day of rest before the long road trip.

Hurter, combined with starter Alex Faedo and relievers Brenan Hanifee and Will Vest, pitched eight innings of shutout baseball against the Royals, allowing five hits with eight total strikeouts.

The final frame wasn’t the only opportunity for Kansas City (63-50), as it had a chance in the top of the sixth with two outs as Hunter Renfroe and Vinnie Pasquantino sat on first and second, respectively. But Hurter kept his cool, and left Paul DeJong striking out in just three pitches to keep the Royals scoreless.

Hurter’s fellow rookie teammates, such as Dillon Dingler and Justyn-Henry Malloy, knew what this moment meant for him.

“Brant was great. He was controlling the zone really well with pretty much every shape that he had, so I was super happy for him,” said Dingler, his catcher. “He had some great innings out of the ‘pen, and I know he’s probably floating right now, so I’m really looking forward to what he can do moving forward.”

Hurter and Henry-Malloy were teammates at Georgia Tech, so the young outfielder had more to say about his former and now current teammate, with both of them making the big leagues within two months of each other.

“I’m so happy that he’s here; he’s worked so hard and overcoming the injuries that he’s had in college, and for him to just be the same bulldog that I got to see in the ACC,” Henry-Malloy said. “It’s a true testament to him and him just being a bulldog, taking the ball and doing what he’s loved to do his entire life, and just doing what he’s always been good at.”

“I thought he handled the emotions of today extremely well; there’s only one first day and making him wait was probably emotional for him, but the minute he started to warm up, I heard his family yelling behind home plate,” Hinch said.  “All that is really awesome, the loss is gonna overshadow the joy that kid should feel about being a big leaguer.”

Although the score doesn’t show it, this ended up being a difficult start for Royals pitcher Michael Wacha, who gave up seven hits and two earned runs in six innings of work. More damage could’ve been done from the Tiger bats, like when the bases were loaded with two outs in the bottom of the fifth, but Zack McKinstry grounded out and couldn’t extend the lead.

“It shouldn’t have been 2-0; we had opportunities,” Hinch said. “Whether the two-out hit, you can never bank on, but we had ’em with the bases loaded and couldn’t quite find that outfield grass, and the first-and-third double plays. (Wacha) came up with big pitches, and it looked like he was right on the edge both in the strike zone but just in the game of it turning our way and us separating a little bit.”

“It’s going to happen against us, and it’s going to happen for us,” Henry-Malloy said about losing the close game. “Just taking it with a grain of salt, going into the next day and just being positive and coming back in and trying to win another ball game the next day.”

Kameron Goodwill is a freelance writer.

For years when I was a kid (and if we are being honest, as a young adult) the release of Madden was almost a holiday. It signaled that football season was getting close, and playing the game was a great way to pass the time until the real thing got started. Now, in the year 2024, the time has finally come. The Detroit Lions are one of the best teams in the game as soon as the game is downloaded onto your console.

That’s right. The Lions are tied for the fifth best team in the game right from the jump. In fact, if you play online a lot, I would bet that they will be one of those teams that is used way too much in head to head matchups. And to be fair to gamers around the world, why wouldn’t you want to use the Lions?

From pass catchers like Amon-Ra St. Brown, Sam LaPorta, and Jameson Williams, to running backs Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery—this team is a tailor-made video game super power, especially on the offensive side of the football.

If you are interested in doing a deeper dive, you can view the full ratings website for the game here.

And now, onto the rest of today’s notes:

• Former Lions’ running back and overall good human Kerryon Johnson finished his degree at the University of Auburn.

• The Lions checked in with five players on the NFL’s top-100 for the 2024 season, and the fact that it isn’t at least six players is an absolute travesty. The best center in football should be top-50 at the very least.

• Tough call here but I am going with deep space.

• Only five more. We can do this.