Phillies recall Jake Diekman, DFA Dustin McGowan

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Just two weeks after his demotion to the minors, Jake Diekman is back in the majors.

The Phillies on Thursday morning recalled the lefty reliever and designated right-hander Dustin McGowan for assignment.

Diekman had struggled before being sent to Triple A Lehigh Valley. He posted a 6.75 ERA and the worst WHIP (2.02) of any major-league reliever with 15-plus innings at the time, as well as walking 17 batters, most among big-league relief pitchers.

“He needs to work on some things,” manager Ryne Sandberg said on June 4 when the Phillies demoted Diekman. “We talked to him and he agreed. There’s some things he needs to fine-tune and be more consistent with. He’ll be back as soon as possible hopefully with some things ironed out.”

It appears he did.

With the IronPigs, Diekman pitched well and built confidence. The 28-year-old threw seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts, one walk and a .208 opponents' batting average.

And, helping Diekman's cause was McGowan being rocked for five homers over 3 1/3 innings in Baltimore on Tuesday. Add in the fact that the Phillies used outfielder Jeff Francoeur to throw two innings and 48 pitches in relief during that 19-3 debacle, and you'd think they need innings from the 'pen — and good ones at that.

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