The Houston Astros made the biggest move of Wednesday's trade deadline, acquiring right-hander Zack Greinke from the Arizona Diamondbacks for four prospects.

Greinke joins a fearsome rotation that includes Justin Verlander and Gerrit Cole.

Houston sent right-hander Corbin Martin, right-hander J.B. Bukauskas, first baseman Seth Beer and infielder Josh Rojas to Arizona to complete the deal.

"We are just really shocked and ecstatic,'' Cole said before Houston played at Cleveland on Wednesday, adding, "I'm really proud to be an Astro right now.''

Cole said when the players learned of the deal there was "a lot of hooting and hollering at 4:07. We are ecstatic. We're getting a Hall of Fame pitcher, a craftsman.''

The Astros also acquired right-handers Aaron Sanchez and Joe Biagini and minor league outfielder Cal Stevenson from the Blue Jays, sending outfielder Derek Fisher to Toronto.

The Diamondbacks moved to replace Greinke in the rotation by acquiring right-handed starter Mike Leake from the Seattle Mariners.

Leake is 9-8 with a 4.40 ERA this season for Seattle. He is in the fourth year of a five-year, $80 million contract.

Greinke is 10-4 with a 2.90 ERA in 23 starts this season. Entering Wednesday, the right-hander, who won a Cy Young Award with the Kansas City Royals in 2009, was 197-122 with a 3.36 ERA in 16 major league seasons.

He pitched against the New York Yankees on Wednesday, striking out seven batters in five innings. Greinke left the ballpark without commenting to reporters.

For Houston's rotation, it's a case of the rich getting richer.

Before the Greinke trade, Astros starters ranked first in the majors in both strikeouts per nine innings (10.5) and opponents' batting average (.213). Their ERA ranked fourth (3.68). Verlander leads the AL in wins (14) and ERA (2.73), and Cole tops with the majors with 212 strikeouts.

With Verlander and Greinke, Houston now is one of two teams with two active Cy Young winners on its roster (the other pair being Rick Porcello and David Price of the Boston Red Sox).

Verlander, who won the Cy Young in 2011 while with Detroit, expressed excitement about the Greinke deal.

Wow... that escalated quickly! ??? @astros

— Justin Verlander (@JustinVerlander) July 31, 2019

Greinke gives the Astros insurance for after this season in case Cole leaves in free agency. Greinke is in the fourth year of a six-year, $206.5 million deal that he signed with Arizona prior to the 2016 season.

As part of the deal, the D-backs are sending $24 million to the Astros, who then will be responsible for the remaining $53 million on the deal, sources confirmed to ESPN's Jeff Passan.