Michael Lorenzen pitched the 14th no-hitter in Philadelphia Phillies history on Wednesday night, a stunning effort in just his second start with his new club, which defeated the Washington Nationals 7-0.
Lorenzen, 31, struck out five batters and walked four, improving to 2-0 since being acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline in exchange for a minor leaguer. His 124 pitches, a career best, are the most by any pitcher this season in a game and the most in a single no-hitter since Mike Fiers’ 131 in 2019.
To begin the ninth, Lorenzen retired Lane Thomas on a grounder and struck out Joey Meneses looking. Lorenzen retired Dominic Smith on a fly ball to conclude his first career complete game in 2 hours, 9 minutes, and the crowd of 30,406 roared. Lorenzen turned his hat backwards and was surrounded by his teammates in a boisterous celebration near the plate.
“I didn’t strike out the entire world in this game,” Lorenzen said. “When you pitch, balls might fall in a variety of locations. I’ve just got God’s grace today.”
During the last out, Lorenzen’s mother, Cheryl, and wife, Cassi, cried in the bleachers, with Cassi carrying their 9-month-old daughter, June. Lorenzen afterwards hoisted his daughter high and kissed her on the cheek on the pitch.
“It was incredible,” Lorenzen remarked of the experience. “These supporters are walking out for the seventh, eighth, and ninth. I’ve never worked in an organisation where supporters are treated like teammates. And they provided me the necessary lift. If you’re tired, you don’t notice it in front of these people.”
Prior to Wednesday, Citizens Bank Park had only seen one no-hitter: Roy Halladay’s against Cincinnati in the National League Division Series on Oct. 6, 2010.
Lorenzen shown that he can play an important part in helping the Phillies back to the playoffs.
The right-hander was acquired by the Phillies to help stabilise their rotation as the reigning NL champions competed for the top wild-card slot with the San Francisco Giants.
Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins, and other Phillies shouted, laughed, and chanted “great trade” as team president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski strolled through the clubhouse shaking hands.
This season, the Phillies had yet to pitch a complete game. Their most recent victory came on August 25, when Aaron Nola shut out Cincinnati.
Lorenzen’s pitch count had risen to the point where it was doubtful if manager Rob Thomson would let him to finish the game. He retained the ball, though, and became the first Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels on July 25, 2015, against the Chicago Cubs. Hamels, who threw 129 pitches in that game, announced his retirement last week.
Thomson claimed he spoke with Lorenzen after the seventh inning and informed him he only had around 20 pitches remaining.
“You’d better get some quick outs,” Thomson said.
Lorenzen calmed down after a couple of laborious innings early on and quickly dispatched the Nationals.
“Honestly, I was upset at myself for the first couple of innings, they were long innings, walking guys,” Lorenzen said. “And I knew I was sabotaging my chances of going deep in this game.” I was only attempting to acquire some more innings when [Thomson] offered them to me. So kudos to him.”
The Nationals have the longest current run of any team without being no-hit; the last no-hitter thrown against them was David Cone’s perfect game against the New York Yankees on July 18, 1999, when they were the Montreal Expos. Since arriving to Washington in 2005, the team has not been no-hit.
Lorenzen, an All-Star for the Tigers this season, delivered a season-high eight innings of two-run ball in his Phillies debut last week, becoming just the fourth pitcher in the previous 30 years to throw a no-hitter in his first two games thrown for a team.
Lorenzen spent much of his career as a reliever with the Reds, but he’s spent the last two seasons completely as a starter for the Tigers and Los Angeles Angels. Prior to Wednesday, his previous career best for pitches thrown in a game was 107, set against the Milwaukee Brewers on April 29, 2015.
It was J.T. Realmuto’s second no-hitter catch; he was also behind the plate for Edinson Vólquez’s no-hitter against the Marlins on June 3, 2017.
This was the fourth no-hitter in the majors this season. Framber Valdez of Houston threw one against Cleveland on August 1. On June 28, Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game against Oakland, while on July 8, Detroit’s Matt Manning, Alex Lange, and Jason Foley combined for a no-hitter against Toronto.
Lorenzen already has one major keepsake from the no-no: the rubber was dug up and delivered to the pitcher in the clubhouse by Philadelphia’s grounds crew.
The Nationals merely shook their heads.
“I thought he threw pitches around the zone, not really in the middle of the zone, so he made it difficult for us,” Thomas said. “I thought he made good pitches when necessary.” I felt he threw some solid pitches to get some soft contact, especially when his pitch count became high.”
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