Detroit Tigers bring up Chad Bell, Artie Lewicki, place Victor Martinez on 60-day DL

Detroit Tigers fans won’t be seeing Victor Martinez for the rest of the season as the veteran has been placed on the 60-day disabled list. Chad Bell and Artie Lewicki join the club in other moves.

Detroit Tigers manager Brad Ausmus will have a few extra pitching options at his disposal moving forward in September.

With Justin Verlander traded to the Houston Astros and Michael Fulmer currently sidelined via injury, Ausmus could use the added reinforcements.

Anibal Sanchez and Daniel Norris recently rejoined the team, and now two other pitchers have linked up with the Major League roster as well.

The team announced the transaction in a pair of tweets from the team’s official Twitter account on Sunday morning.

Detroit tweeted the following:

"“We’ve recalled the contract of LHP Chad Bell from Triple-A Toledo today & purchased the contract of RHP Artie Lewicki from Triple-A Toledo.”"

The Tigers also tweeted:

"“To make room for Lewicki on the 40-man roster, the #Tigers have transferred DH Victor Martinez to the 60-day disabled list.”"

Bell is obviously familiar to Detroit Tigers fans after appearing in 19 games earlier this season. The southpaw soaked of 42.2 innings in those 19 games.

He also pitched to a 5.48 ERA, a 5.34 FIP and a 4.83 xFIP. Bell was tagged for 1.69 home runs per nine frames and put up a 19.7 strikeout percentage and a 10.4% walk rate.

While he worked a reliever before with the Tigers, Bell will now pitch out of the rotation.

A starter with Triple-A Toledo this season, the southpaw turned in a 3.43 ERA and a 3.63 FIP in 34.1 frames (seven starts) for the Mud Hens. He struck out 8.13 batters per nine innings.

Also joining the team to work out of the rotation is Artie Lewicki.

Artie Lewicki

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An eight-round pick out of the University of Virginia in 2014, the right-hander made it to Double-A for the first time in 2016.

This season, he split the 2017 campaign with Double-A Erie and Triple-A Toledo.

Lewicki pitched to a 3.76 ERA and a 1.191 WHIP in 110 innings for Erie before making a five-game stint with the Mud Hens.

In 31 innings for Detroit’s Triple-A affiliate, Lewicki allowed 28, seven runs, seven walks and two home runs. He struck out 33 over the same span.

The former eighth-round pick won all five of his decisions.

Lewicki wasn’t on the 40-man roster, so a transaction was necessary to make space on the roster.

Victor Martinez heads to the 60-day disabled list to make room. The designated hitter will miss the rest of the season as he recovers from an irregular heartbeat.

MLB.com’s Jason Beck tweeted the following about Martinez on Saturday afternoon:

"“Victor Martinez will undergo cardiac ablation surgery to address heartbeat issue. He’s done for 2017 but should be ready for next season.”"

Martinez is hitting .255 with a 85 wRC+ in 435 plate appearances this season. He owns a -1.1 WAR to go along with a .303 wOBA, a .117 ISO and 10 home runs.

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His on-base percentage is sitting at .324.