Phils' Lorenzen no-hits Nats for MLB's 4th of 2023
Written by I Dig SportsPHILADELPHIA -- Phillies right-hander Michael Lorenzen, a trade-deadline acquisition by Philadelphia, threw MLB's fourth no-hitter of the season Wednesday against the Washington Nationals.
He struck out five and walked four in Philadelphia's 7-0 victory, throwing a career-high 124 pitches, 76 of which were for strikes. His 124 pitches are the most in a solo no-hitter since Mike Fiers' 131 in 2019.
Lorenzen, 31, was an All-Star this season for Detroit before the Phillies acquired him at the trade deadline for a minor leaguer. He promptly threw a season-high eight innings of two-run ball in his Phillies debut last week, and is the fourth pitcher over the past 30 seasons to throw a no-hitter within his first two games pitched for a franchise.
Lorenzen spent much of his career as a reliever for the Cincinnati Reds, but he's been exclusively a starter for the Tigers and Los Angeles Angels the past couple seasons. Before Wednesday, his previous career high for pitches thrown in a game was 107, on April 29, 2015, against the Milwaukee Brewers.
The crowd of 30,406 stood and cheered when Lorenzen retired CJ Abrams on a flyball to end the eighth. Since opening in 2004, Citizens Bank Park had only seen the Phillies throw one no-hitter before Wednesday: Roy Halladay in the 2010 postseason.
The Phillies now have 14 no-hitters in franchise history (13 solo, 1 combined), the last before Lorenzen authored by Cole Hamels in 2015. One of those no-hitters came against the Expos in 1991, by Tommy Greene.
It was the second no-hitter caught by J.T. Realmuto in his career; he was also behind the dish for Edinson Vólquez's no-hitter on June 3, 2017, with the Marlins.
The Nationals entered Wednesday owning the longest active streak of any franchise without being no-hit; the last no-hitter thrown against them, when they were the Expos, was David Cone's perfect game with the New York Yankees on July 18, 1999. The franchise had not been no-hit since moving to Washington in 2005.
Earlier this month, Houston's Framber Valdez threw a no-hitter against Cleveland on Aug. 1. Yankees right-hander Domingo German pitched a perfect game at Oakland on June 28, and Matt Manning, Alex Lange and Jason Foley of Detroit threw a combined no-no against Toronto on July 8.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.