Detroit Tigers flirt with combined no-hitter, then fall apart in 3-2 loss to Giants

The Detroit Tigers were nine outs away from completing a combined no-hitter against the San Francisco Giants.

In another bullpen-only game, the Tigers retired 18 of the first 19 batters without allowing a hit in Friday’s opener of a three-game series at Oracle Park. The Giants, though, picked up their first hit on a leadoff single in the seventh inning, facing right-handed reliever Kenta Maeda.

The Tigers crumbled from there, losing 3-2.

“It happens fast,” manager A.J. Hinch told reporters in San Francisco. “Obviously, in close games, there’s a fine line between winning and losing, and it’s usually in the margins.”

The Giants scored one run apiece in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings. In the ninth, the Giants loaded the bases with no outs against right-handed reliever Jason Foley. After that, Mark Canha — whom the Tigers traded to the Giants at the July 30 trade deadline — delivered a walk-off sacrifice fly against righty reliever Shelby Miller.

The Tigers (55-62) have lost back-to-back games in walk-off fashion.

The ninth inning began with a fielding error by second baseman Colt Keith. He booted a ball up that middle that he should’ve easily fielded, allowing the go-ahead run to reach base. Foley imploded under pressure, as the next two batters reached safely with a walk and a hit-by-pitch to load the bases.

That’s when the Tigers called Miller out of the bullpen.

Miller induced a grounder that led to a force out at home plate for the first out in the ninth inning, but he failed to put away Canha after getting ahead in the count. Canha refused to chase and when he got a middle-middle fastball from Miller, he drove the ball to deep left field for a game-ending sacrifice fly.

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

Fumbling the no-hit bid

The first hit for the Giants occurred when Tyler Fitzgerald attacked a two-strike fastball from Maeda. He redirected the ball up the middle and into center field for a ground-ball single.

After another single, Fitzgerald scored from third base on a sacrifice fly from Michael Conforto for the Giants’ first run of the game, cutting the Tigers’ lead to 2-1.

What happened in the eighth inning was eerily similar to what happened in the seventh, with another round of back-to-back singles before a sacrifice fly. This time, Canha delivered the leadoff single against Maeda. He came around to score on a sacrifice fly from Patrick Bailey, making it 2-2.

Right-handed reliever Beau Brieske, serving as the starter for the bullpen-only game, worked around a two-out walk in the first inning, but other than that mistake, he was perfect. He registered five strikeouts across three scoreless innings, throwing 49 pitches.

Maeda, a 36-year-old veteran, covered the next 4⅔ innings, allowing two runs on four hits and zero walks with two strikeouts. He owns a 6.59 ERA in 21 games (16 starts), but he has improved significantly since getting reassigned to the bullpen.

Two runs

The Tigers grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second inning, facing left-hander Robbie Ray.

Gio Urshela ripped a double to left field and advanced to third base on a wild pitch when Ray walked Wenceel Pérez, then he scored on Ryan Vilade’s sacrifice fly.

The Tigers increased their lead to 2-0 when Javier Báez cranked a leadoff double, stole third base for his eighth steal of the season and scored easily on a throwing error by catcher Curt Casali.

Ray, the 2021 American League Cy Young winner, surrendered two runs on five hits and three walks with seven strikeouts across six innings, throwing 105 pitches.

The Tigers finished 0-for-5 with runners in scoring position.

“We had plenty of opportunities,” Hinch said. “Part of the goal tonight against Ray was to make him work. Their bullpen was in a really tough spot, and we knew if we could get to them, they were going to have a hard time without the full use of their bullpen.”

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.