The playoff-contending Kansas City Royals acquired veteran right-hander Michael Lorenzen from the Texas Rangers on Monday in exchange for minor league left-hander Walter Pennington.
Lorenzen went 5-6 with a 3.81 ERA in 19 games (18 starts) for the Rangers after signing late in spring training and making his season debut April 15. In his final start for Texas on Saturday, Lorenzen allowed four runs and five hits while recording only two outs at Toronto. He then pitched again Sunday, and gave up one run over four innings in relief.
The 32-year-old Lorenzen was a first-time All-Star last season with Detroit, and threw a no-hitter for Philadelphia after being traded. He signed a $4.5 million, one-year contract with the reigning World Series champion Rangers on March 23. Primarily a starter the past three seasons, Lorenzen is 45-44 with a 4.08 ERA over 361 career games (87 starts) with Cincinnati, Philadelphia, Texas, the Los Angeles Angels and Detroit.
Kansas City went into Monday, a day before the trade deadline, in the American League’s third wild card spot, one game ahead Boston. Texas was third in the AL West, and six games behind the Royals in the wild-card race, with four teams between them.
The Royals had two relievers exit Sunday’s 7-3 loss to the Chicago Cubs after getting hurt. Right-hander John Schreiber tweaked his knee when covering first base after getting a grounder on the only pitch he threw. Right-hander Hunter Harvey, who they got in a trade with Washington two weeks ago, later left with a back spasm after throwing only seven of his 22 pitches for strikes.
Pennington made his big league debut July 5, when he struck out one of the two batters he faced at Colorado for the final two outs in an inning. The 26-year-old lefty is 6-3 with a 2.26 ERA in 37 appearances for Triple-A Omaha, with 79 strikeouts in 59 2/3 innings. The Rangers assigned him to Triple-A Round Rock.
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