Former Reds pitcher strangely left off Phillies' playoff roster

The Philadelphia Phillies didn't need Michael Lorenzen in order to take down the Miami Marlins in Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Tuesday night. But it's still rather peculiar that the former Cincinnati Reds pitcher is absent from the Phillies' playoff roster.

Lorenzen was the Phillies' major trade deadline acquisition this past summer and even threw a no-hitter for Phliadelphia earlier this season.

However, the former Reds reliever turned starter (and now back to reliever) has really struggled since that spectacular performance on August 9th against the Washington Nationals.

Former Reds pitcher strangely left off Phillies' playoff roster

The Philadelphia Phillies ran out Zack Wheeler for Game 1 of their NL Wild Card Series matchup against the Miami Marlins, and plan to have Aaron Nola toeing the rubber for Game 2 on Wednesday night at Citizen's Bank Park.

But after sacrificing highly-regarded infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee, one would have thought that Lorenzen would at least be part of the Phillies playoff roster. Instead, Philadelphia manager Rob Thomson will lean on 22-year-old pitcher Orion Kerkering to take Lorenzen's spot in the bullpen.

The Phillies are rostering 12 pitchers for the wild card round against the Marlins, and with having to over potentially three games instead of five or seven, the decision to sit Lorenzen is somewhat understandable.

There's also the fact that Lorenzen has an 8.01 ERA since his no-hitter back in August. Lorenzen is striking out just 12.4-percent of the batters he's faced since that game and is allowing a .331 batting average-against.

Michael Lorenzen will be a free agent this offseason. Lorenzen was signed by the Detroit Tigers this past offseason after spending the 2022 season with his hometown Los Angeles Angels. Lorenzen was part of the Cincinnati Reds' bullpen from 2015-2021.