DENVER -- The Giants have had mixed results with bullpen games this year, but they found themselves staging another one out of necessity on Tuesday night. 

Left-hander Carlos Rodón had originally been scheduled to make the start, but the Giants decided to push him back to Friday to give the cracked fingernail and blister on his pitching hand more time to heal. San Francisco decided to lean on a cadre of relievers in his place, with rookie Sean Hjelle doing the heavy lifting in a 6-3 win over the Rockies at Coors Field.

Hjelle, 25, was rocked for six runs over one-plus innings in his last outing against the Dodgers on Saturday, but he rebounded by holding the Rockies to two runs on six hits over four-plus innings in his sixth career Major League appearance. He struck out three and walked none in a 66-pitch outing, matching his career high by inducing eight swinging strikes.

“It was about as good as it gets,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “In this ballpark, the only way to survive is by throwing a ton of strikes and forcing the action. He did exactly what we would have hoped and gave us a chance to win the game.”

David Villar launched a 424-foot homer, and Austin Slater and Thairo Estrada combined to go 4-for-8 with three RBIs at the top of the lineup to help the Giants take the second game of this four-game series and improve to 7-9 in bullpen games this year.

After John Brebbia and Tyler Rogers opened the game with three scoreless innings, Hjelle entered the game as the bulk-innings guy in the bottom of the fourth, and he was tested after Charlie Blackmon and Michael Toglia delivered back-to-back singles that beat the shift, putting runners on first and second with one out. Still, the 6-foot-11 right-hander managed to escape the jam by getting Randal Grichuk to bounce into a 4-6-3 inning-ending double play.

Hjelle’s lone mistake came in the sixth, when he hung a breaking ball that C.J. Cron blasted out to left field for a solo home run. He was removed after giving up a leadoff single to Alan Trejo in the eighth and gave way to lefty Thomas Szapucki, who allowed the inherited runner to score on a two-run double by Cron.

“Unfortunately, he sort of ran out of pitches,” Kapler said. “I felt like if he had a few more pitches and maybe maintains his velo a little bit better, he might be able to get through that game for us.”

Now that Alex Wood has been shut down for the year with a left shoulder impingement, the Giants are expected to give Hjelle an extended look over the final month of the regular season to see how he might fit into their pitching plans heading into the 2023 season.

All six of Hjelle’s appearances with San Francisco have come out of the bullpen, but he’s started exclusively in the Minors, where he logged a 4.92 ERA over 22 starts with Triple-A Sacramento this year. The Giants have tried to ease Hjelle’s transition to the Majors by having him pitch behind openers, though Kapler said he views the pitching prospect’s three appearances this month as de facto starts since he’s been used as the bulk guy.

Kapler said Hjelle’s usage doesn’t necessarily point to a future in the bullpen at this point, noting that the Giants still plan to develop him as a starter for now.

“I don’t think it’s best for us at the Major League level to put him in that category yet,” Kapler said. “We’ll kind of keep a soft focus on it over a longer period of time, but right now, I still think we can try to develop Sean as a starter. I think he has all the ingredients necessary to be a Major League starter.”