SEATTLE – Charlie Furbush, the left-hander from South Portland who made his major league pitching debut in June, was traded Saturday from the Detroit Tigers to the Seattle Mariners as part of a six-player deal.

Furbush, 25, will report today to the Mariners along with outfielder Casper Wells. Infielder Francisco Martinez also was in the deal but was sent to Double-A Jackson, Miss., and a player to be named also was included.

The Tigers received right-handed starter Doug Fister — the key player in the deal — and reliever David Pauley. Fister will enter the rotation for the Tigers, who have been searching for a No. 5 starter. Furbush, among others, was unable to fill that role.

Furbush, who has a 1-3 record and 3.62 ERA, likely will get a chance to eventually start for the Mariners. However he hasn’t started a game since July 14 at Triple-A Toledo, and has made three relief appearances since then, totaling 3 1/3 innings without allowing a run.

The Mariners are planning to use him in long relief to stretch out his arm before giving him the opportunity to start.

“He’s only started two games this year. It’s been a while since he’s started so he’s not really built up,” Mariners Manager Eric Wedge told the Everett (Wash.) Herald. “We’d like to see him as a starter but there’s also a chance that he’ll be in the bullpen, too.”

Seattle General Manager Jack Zduriencik said the deal took on many forms over the three weeks he talked with Dave Dombrowski, the Tigers’ GM.

“The acquisition cost for a starting pitcher is very high right now, as you can see from the trades being made around the majors. There were times where I didn’t think we would get a trade made,” Dombrowski said.

“Seattle was looking for some offensive help and they liked Casper Wells a great deal, and they also liked Charlie Furbush, so those were names that were in this early on. We’ve probably talked 25 times in the last week.”

Fister is just 3-12 this season but it’s a misleading statistic; Fister has the lowest run support of any pitcher in the AL at just 1.97 runs per game, and has lost his last seven decisions spanning 10 starts.

But in those 10 starts, Fister has a 3.42 ERA with a pair of complete-game losses, and has thrown at least six innings in each start.

Fister will slot into the fifth spot in the Tigers’ rotation.

His first start will come Wednesday.

“We’ve had several pitchers in the fifth spot and we haven’t been able to get any consistent performance. Phil Coke deserved better than his record but I think things are going better with him in the bullpen,” Dombrowski said.

Pauley has been one of Seattle’s top relievers and was surprised to be headed out of town just a day before the trade deadline.

After missing out on a starting spot during spring training, he accepted his bullpen role and is 5-4 with a 2.15 ERA in 39 appearances.

He was originally intended to be a long reliever out of the pen, but instead became the Mariners’ main seventh- and eighth-inning bridge to closer Brandon League.