San Francisco Giants Demote Pitcher After Brutal Outing, Reinstate Reliever

There was a shakeup in the bullpen for the San Francisco Giants following their loss on Friday night.

Apr 6, 2024; San Francisco, California, USA; San Francisco Giants pitcher Kai-Wei Teng (70) / Darren Yamashita-USA TODAY Sports

The San Francisco Giants were handed a sobering loss on Friday night against their divisional opponent Arizona Diamondbacks.

After taking the opener, they then allowed the Diamondbacks to tie their franchise record for hits in a game during their 17-1 loss.

It was another tough outing for their new starter Blake Snell who continues to struggle as he works his way back from a shortened preparation period before debuting with his new team.

But things really took a turn when the Giants went to their bullpen. All four relievers they went to allowed a run and a total of 11 earned.

None of them had a tougher showing than Kai-Wei Teng.

The 26-year-old righty, who is ranked as San Francisco's No. 23 overall prospect, gave up five earned runs on four hits while also walking three batters.

It was his fourth appearance at the Major League level after getting called up from Triple-A on March 29. He has mainly been a starter in the minors, appearing in 102 games and starting 99 of them, but was solely used as a reliever by the Giants.

Now, according to Evan Webeck of The Mercury News, they have optioned him back down to Triple-A and reinstated Sean Hjelle who was on the 15-day injured list with a right elbow strain.

Manager Bob Melvin thinks that this will benefit Teng in the long run.

"He got a taste of the big leagues; I think that's good experience for him. He'll go down and start and get stretched out a little bit more, but I think the overall experience was good," he said.

The 26-year-old has a 4.06 ERA in the minors over 480 2/3 innings pitched.