Michael Lorenzen will piggyback behind Cristopher Sánchez on Tuesday and could remain in the bullpen

ST. LOUIS — Michael Lorenzen will be pitching out of the bullpen for at least one outing next week, and potentially will stay there over the course of the season. Manager Rob Thomson announced Saturday that Lorenzen will be come in as a piggyback to Cristopher Sánchez on Tuesday in Atlanta. Thomson said he’s unsure of how many innings each pitcher will throw on Tuesday, but emphasized that he’s going to try to get as much out of them as he can.

Zack Wheeler will start Game 1 Monday in Atlanta, and Aaron Nola will start Game 3 on Wednesday. It’s possible that the Phillies will keep Sánchez and Lorenzen in a piggyback for the Mets series from Sept. 21-24 at home, but which pitcher will start the piggyback is unknown.

“We’ll figure it out when we get there,” Thomson said of the Mets series.

Lorenzen has struggled in his five outings since his no-hitter on Aug. 9. He’s only pitched through six innings twice over those five outings, and has 7.96 ERA with 11 walks and 14 strikeouts in that span. Batters are hitting .333 against him. He has a walk rate of 9% over his last five starts, and a strikeout rate of 11.5%, which is a significant drop from his strikeout rate of 19.4% over his previous 20 starts this season.

Pitching out of the bullpen shouldn’t be a difficult transition for Lorenzen, who pitched as a reliever throughout his time at Cal State Fullerton and for a few seasons with the Cincinnati Reds. His ability to pitch both as a reliever and as a starter was one of the reasons the Phillies pursued Lorenzen at the trade deadline.

Part of the calculus with this decision is to manage the heavy workload of Lorenzen and Sánchez. Lorenzen is already at a career-high 148⅔ innings, and Sánchez is at a career-high 137 innings, between his minor- and big-league appearances.

“That was one of things we were looking over,” Thomson said. “OK, so how does that affect the starting rotation? Now they’re going to be on regular rest, one time. Is that good for them? Do we still want to keep them extra rest? Or are they getting too much rest?

“The other thing you look at it is, OK, that kind of resets your bullpen after that day [after you piggyback]. We’ve been running with one less bullpen arm than the rest of the teams. For a while now. So it might help us out there too.”

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This change doesn’t mean that Sánchez won’t be pitching deep into games. Right now, the plan is in flux. But it’s clear that the 26-year-old left-handed pitcher has made a positive impression. Since he was recalled on June 17, Sánchez has a 3.25 ERA in 15 starts. He’s increased his strikeout rate over the last season, from 19.8% to 23.6%, and dropped his walk rate in more than half, from 9.6% in 2022 to 4.0% in 2023.

“He might be a four-inning guy depending on what happens,” Thomson said. “Because we’re watching his innings still. It depends on how it looks. And the way it looked the other day, it didn’t look like September to me for that kid. Because the velocity was good. The command was great. The secondary pitches were great. So it doesn’t look like he’s slowing down. We’ll just have to watch it.”

Thomson said that Lorenzen is “all-in” on the change.

“What I said to him was, ‘Look, I consider you a starter. And moving forward, you’re going to be a starter,’” Thomson said. “Because he’s really good. He’s pitched well all year. After the no-hitter, he’s kind of come back a little bit. I would trust him as a starter, no matter where he is. But he was all-in. Now it’s time to win, so whatever we have to do.

“He gets it.”