Michael Lorenzen has thrown Major League Baseball’s second no-hitter in as many weeks.
Lorenzen threw the fourth no-hitter of the year on Wednesday night while leading the Philadelphia Phillies to a dominant 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals at Citizens Bank Park. Lorenzen recorded five strikeouts and threw 124 pitches in the outing, which was just his second start with the franchise.
Lorenzen’s no-hitter is the first thrown by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels did in 2015. Hamels threw his no-hitter in what was his final start with the organization. Lorenzen’s was the 14th in club history.
Lorenzen, 31, was an All-Star this season for the Detroit Tigers for the first time in his career. The Phillies then acquired him just before the trade deadline in exchange for infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee. He made his debut with the team earlier this week, where he threw a season-high eight innings in their win over the Miami Marlins.
Lorenzen entered this season with a career 4.49 ERA as a starter. He held a 3.48 ERA headed into Wednesday’s game, and he now has a 7-7 record this season.
The Phillies are the fourth team Lorenzen has played for. After seven seasons with the Cincinnati Reds to start his career, he spent a season with the Los Angeles Angels before landing in Detroit.
The no-hitter is the fourth of the season, and the first since Houston Astros star Framber Valdez did so last week. Valdez threw the 16th no-hitter in Astros history with 93 pitches while facing the minimum 27 batters in their 2-0 win over the Cleveland Guardians. Matt Manning and the Detroit Tigers threw a combined no-hitter last month. New York Yankees pitcher Domingo Germán threw a perfect game in June against the Oakland Athletics. He’s since stepped away from the team for the remainder of the season.
The Phillies picked up three runs in the first inning on Wednesday night, thanks to an RBI double from Bryce Harper and a two-run home run from Nick Castellanos. Weston Wilson hit a home run in the second inning in his very first at-bat for the club in the second, and then Castellanos hit another solo shot in the third. That suddenly gave the Phillies a 5-0 lead. Johan Rojas and Alec Bohm each hit an RBI single the rest of the way to push Philadelphia to the seven-run win.
The win marked the seventh for the Phillies in their last 10 games. They trail the Atlanta Braves by 10 games in the NL East. The Nationals, who trail the Braves by 23 games in the division, have now lost two of three to the Phillies in this series.