The Oakland Athletics acquired left-hander Jake Diekman from the Kansas City Royals on Saturday, both teams announced.
Diekman, 32, is 0-6 with a 4.75 ERA in 48 appearances. However, he has struck out 63 in just 41 2/3 innings.
Kansas City received two minor league prospects, outfielder Dairon Blanco and right-hander Ismael Aquino.
The Royals also designated first baseman Lucas Duda for assignment and recalled first baseman Ryan O’Hearn and right-hander Kyle Zimmer from Triple-A Omaha.
Overall, Diekman is 14-21 with a 3.87 ERA in 413 career relief appearances since reaching the majors in 2012. He has pitched for the Philadelphia Phillies (2012-15), Texas Rangers (2015-18), Arizona Diamondbacks (2018) and Royals.
Diekman is the second pitcher Oakland has acquired from the Royals in the past two weeks. The A’s landed right-hander Homer Bailey on July 14.
Blanco, 26, was batting .276 with seven homers, 44 RBIs and 27 steals in 78 games for Double-A Midland, while the 20-year-old Aquino was 1-1 with a 4.58 ERA in 10 appearances (one start) for Oakland’s Arizona Rookie League team.
Duda was batting just .171 with four homers and 15 RBIs in 39 games this season. O’Hearn batted just .188 with six homers and 18 RBIs in 56 games for the Royals earlier this season, while Zimmer was 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in three appearances for Kansas City and was 2-3 with a 4.38 ERA in 34 appearances for Omaha.