Phillies Land Red Hot Pitcher At MLB Trade Deadline

PHILADELPHIA, PA — Quiet until just hours before Major League Baseball's trade deadline at 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Phillies have finally struck in their quest to repeat as National League champions.

The team has acquired starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen from the Detroit Tigers, ESPN's Jeff Passan first reported.

Lorenzen has quietly been one of the best pitchers in baseball in recent months, pitching to a 3.58 ERA on the season. He'll slot into the back-end of a rotation that features Taijuan Walker, Zack Wheeler, Ranger Suarez, Aaron Nola, and Cristopher Sanchez. His contract expires at the end of the year, so it will be purely a rental for the Fightins.

Long a middle reliever in Cincinnati, Lorenzen is having a career year with Detroit, already matching his career highs in important counting stats like starts (18) and nearing career highs in strikeouts and innings pitched. He's also matching career bests for ERA and WHIP (3.58 and 1.10) ever since Detroit gave him a chance to start.

The Phillies will indeed go with a six-man rotation for at least the next two weeks, as the team plays without an off-day until mid-August, according to The Athletic's Jayson Stark. Both Sanchez and Lorenzen have served effectively in bullpen roles in the past, and, barring injury to another arm, one of those two will return to the pen for the stretch run.

In return, the Phillies shipped High-A minor league infielder Hao Yu Lee back to Detroit, multiple sources confirmed. Lee is the Phillies number five prospect on MLB.com.

The deadline is still 90 minutes away and the Phillies may not be done, as rumors swirled that they still sought a right-handed outfield bat to shore up their defense and lefty-heavy middle of the lineup.