No-No for Michael Lorenzen
Phillie_Savant / Twitter
Michael Lorenzen, once a two-way player for the Cincinnati Reds, pitched a no-hitter as a Philadelphia Phillie Wednesday night against the Washington Nationals. It was the first no-hitter thrown by the Phillies since Cole Hamels in his final start for the team back in July of 2015 versus the Chicago Cubs. It was also his first home start for the team since being traded by the Detroit Tigers back on August 1st.
Fun Fact: In an ironic twist of fate, both no-hitters broke stingy streaks of clubs not falling victim to a null of hits. The Cubs hadn’t been no-hit since Sandy Koufax’s Perfect Game in 1965 and The Nationals since they were the Montreal Expos in David Cone’s Perfect Game back in 1999.
While many no hitters’ include that singular play to keep the bid alive, there were several scattered across the nine innings of play.
In the first, shortstop CJ Abrams hit a ball to the warning track that Center Fielder Johan Rojas was able to track down. With two outs former Met Dominic Smith hit a foul ball that just stayed inside the left-field line for Weston Wilson to nab.
In the bottom half, Nicholas Castellanos hit his 199th career home run, pushing the lead to 3-0 after an RBI double from first baseman Bryce Harper.
In the Third, Lane Thomas hit a high chopper to Alec Bohm, necessitating a quick throw to Harper, who took the one-hopper and closed out the inning.
Lost in the wildness of this ballgame was Castellanos hitting his 200th career home run in the bottom of the third. Also that the aforementioned Weston Wilson, hit his first career home run in the first at-bat of his career, congrats to them. In fact, this was all the coverage that Twitter was giving the game until the ninth inning.
In the fourth, Dominic Smith hit a long fly ball to center, but once again died at the warning track for Rojas to nab. In fact, a 1/3rd of the outs made in this game came from the glove of Rojas.
In the seventh, second baseman Rodolfo Castro made a great play on a hopper in the hole between first and second, and casually threw out Ildemaro Vargas as Lorenzen made it through seven, but with a pitch count of 100.
In the dugout, manager Rob Thompson gave Lorenzen a 20-pitch limit for the eighth. He only needed 11, to close out the eighth.
From the crowd were the watchful eyes of Lorenzen’s mother, wife, and baby daughter, along with father watching somewhere above as Lorenzen was allowed to go out for the ninth with 111 pitches under his belt, his previous high was 106, back in 2015.
The first out was similar to the play in the third, a chopper to third baseman Bohm, throwing out Lane Thomas. The second was a questionable third-strike call, putting him one out away from history. Lorenzen, who had seen teammates reach the pinnacle like Reid Detmers in 2022, and the combined efforts of the Detroit Tigers a month earlier, now was on the edge.
Dominic Smith, the last hope, worked a three-two count, with Lorenzen’s pitch count at 123. The catcher, JT Realmuto, knew Dominic Smith had a beat on his changeup, and called for a back door slider. With onlookers in and out of the stadium, his 124 pitch came to the plate, and well…
And fittingly it was Johan Rojas, the defender of the night, who caught the final out. Lorenzen, hands held high as it fell into Rojas’s glove, jumped into Realmuto’s arms, as the bell at Citizen’s Bank Park rang. It was the third no-hitter at Citizen’s Bank Park, though the first regular season no-hitter as the first two were done in the postseason.
It was only the second time in the modern era that a pitcher who was traded mid-season threw a no-hitter in either their first or second start. The other was Cubs’ Don Cardwell back in 1960 against the St. Louis Cardinals in his first start, ironically after being traded by the Phillies two days earlier.
After the game, the ground crew dug up the pitching rubber as a gift to Lorenzen, which has been done in the past, as the Marlins gave their pitching rubber to Roy Halladay after his perfect game.
Even his former Detroit Tigers recognized the achievement and plastered congratulations on their scoreboard and showed the final out.
More importantly the Phillies find themselves second in the Al East, 63-52, ten games back of the Atlanta Braves, though hold the first spot in the NL Wild Card spot, three and a half games up. The Phillies will face off again with the Nationals tonight for the last game of a four-game set. Congrats to Michael Lorenzen on his accomplishment.
Welcome To Philadelphia.
