SAN DIEGO -- Kai-Wei Teng was roughed up when he started against the Padres last week, but the Giants decided to give the Taiwanese right-hander a chance to rebound at Petco Park on Tuesday night.
“He had a pretty good outing before that,” manager Bob Melvin said before the game. “We want to continue to watch him. He had a really good year in Triple-A. I don’t think you evaluate on just a couple of outings.”
Teng struggled to make the most of the rematch, though, yielding three runs (two earned) over 3 1/3 innings in the Giants’ 5-1 loss, which evened this four-game series between the National League West rivals.
San Francisco took an early lead after Jung Hoo Lee went deep on Padres starter Nick Pivetta’s second pitch of the game, giving the club its second leadoff homer in as many days. It was the first time the Giants have produced leadoff blasts in back-to-back games since Sept. 17-18, 2024, when former outfielder Mike Yastrzemski accomplished the feat against the Orioles.
Still, San Diego quickly tied the game by scoring an unearned run against Teng in the bottom of the first. Fernando Tatis Jr. led off the inning by reaching on a throwing error from Christian Koss, who made only his second start of the year at shortstop to give Willy Adames a chance to rest his sore side. Tatis advanced to third on a double by Luis Arraez before coming home on an RBI groundout by Manny Machado to make it 1-1.
Teng got through the next two innings unscathed, but he couldn’t get out of the fourth after he surrendered a leadoff single to Ryan O’Hearn and then plunked Xander Bogaerts and Gavin Sheets to load the bases with one out. Jose Iglesias followed with a go-ahead single to left field, prompting Melvin to lift Teng in favor of Spencer Bivens.
“For the first three innings, I think it was pretty good,” Teng said via interpreter Andy Lin. “The fourth inning, it was unfortunate that I had two hit-by-pitches. That was the only part that I’m upset about.”
Bivens got the next batter, Elias Díaz, to ground into a forceout, but he allowed an inherited runner to score after issuing a bases-loaded walk to Tatis, which extended the Padres’ lead to 3-1.
The Giants couldn’t erase the deficit after that, as their offense went silent after Lee’s first-inning homer, finishing with only four hits while striking out 12 times.
Teng earned a look in San Francisco’s starting rotation after logging a 3.67 ERA over 25 appearances (four starts) for Triple-A Sacramento, but that success has yet to translate to the Majors. Teng has completed five innings just once in his first four appearances for the Giants, struggling to an 8.78 ERA over 13 1/3 innings, though Melvin felt the 26-year-old rookie showed some improvement on Tuesday.
“He had better stuff than he did last time,” Melvin said. “It looked like he was in command. He gives up a run in the first, but we make an error. He got out of that jam. It looked like his stuff was better. He was getting ahead. He was getting different swings. And then obviously, he went out for the fourth and hit a couple of guys and it kind of got away from him a little bit.”
Melvin said it was too early to say whether Teng will remain in the Giants’ rotation and make his next scheduled start against the MLB-best Brewers on Sunday. If San Francisco decides to shuffle its rotation, it could turn to several other young starters who are currently waiting in the wings down at Sacramento, including right-hander Blade Tidwell, who was acquired from the Mets as part of the Tyler Rogers trade last month.
Tidwell, San Francisco’s No. 14 prospect per MLB Pipeline, has made a fast impression after recording a 1.69 ERA with 23 strikeouts over 16 innings in his first three appearances (two starts) for the River Cats, so he could be the next man up if the Giants want to take a look at another up-and-coming arm. Other rotation options include Hayden Birdsong, Carson Whisenhunt (No. 7) and Trevor McDonald (No. 19).