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What a day for the Philadelphia Phillies.
First rookie Weston Wilson hit a home run in his first major league at-bat and then starter Michael Lorenzen threw a no-hitter in Philly’s 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night.
Lorenzen struck out five batters en route to the Phillies’ 14th no-hitter in franchise history.
The righty threw a career-high 124 pitches in the win, which marked the first no-hitter for a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels did it in 2015.
He became the fifth pitcher in major league history, and only the second since 1900, to throw a no-hitter in his home debut with a new team.
Lorenzen said he was spurred on by the support he received from the Phillies fans when he headed to the mound in the ninth inning with a chance to make history.
“Just walking out of the dugout, hearing the fans go wild, it gave me the chills,” Lorenzen said. “It gave that boost of energy that I needed, for sure.”
The Phillies had acquired Lorenzen at the deadline for prospect for infielder prospect Hao-Yu Lee in a trade with the Detroit Tigers.
“Unbelievable, bro,” manager Rob Thomson said during a clubhouse toast. “Welcome to Philadelphia, buddy.”
The Phillies starter completed the memorable night with a 1-2-3 top of the ninth.
Lorenzen was able to get Nationals outfielder Lane Thomas to ground out to third and then got Joey Meneses to strike out on three pitches.
The crowd of 30,406 erupted when Lorenzen induced a popup from Dominic Smith to end his first career complete game in 2 hours, 9 minutes.
Lorenzen stood on the mound and raised his arms in triumph before running into the waiting arms of catcher J.T. Realmuto.
Lorenzen then flipped his cap backward and was mobbed by his teammates in a rowdy celebration near the plate.
“You’ve just got to live in the strike zone and hope they continue to hit balls right at guys,” he said. “That was kind of the story of the night. If you give up a base hit, you give up a base hit. So what?”
The NBC Sports Philadelphia cameras caught Lorenzen’s mom, who was in attendance, jumping up and down in excitement.
“I was upset with myself for those first few innings. They were long innings,” Lorenzen said on the TV broadcast. “Walking guys and I knew like ‘man I just ruined my chances to go deep in this game. I had a couple quick [innings], so I just kept trying to make them quick and thankfully skip pulled me aside and said, ‘How ya feeling?’
“I said, ‘I’m feeling good, it’s nice and cool outside. It’s not too hot I’m recovering nicely.’ Was just kind of trying to buy some more innings and he gave it to me.”
Lorenzen had walked three batters through the first four innings and had several at-bats go longer than he would have liked.
Thomas’ first inning at-bat went eight pitches before Lorenzen finally was able to strike him out.
Lorenzen pushed his pitch count to the point where it was questionable if Thomson would let him finish the game. But he kept the ball and became the first Phillies pitcher to throw a no-hitter since Cole Hamels on July 25, 2015 against the Cubs. Hamels retired last week.
Thomson said he talked to Lorenzen after the seventh and told the righty he had only about 20 pitches left.
“You better get quick outs,” Thomson told him.
After a couple of labor-intensive innings early, Lorenzen settled down and made quick work of the Nationals.
“Honestly I was upset at myself for the first couple of innings, they were long innings, walking guys. And I knew I was just ruining my chances to go deep in this game,” Lorenzen said. “Just trying to buy some more innings and (Thomson) gave them to me. So hats off to him.”
The no-no was the second one in as many weeks and the fourth this season by a major league pitcher.
The Phillies picked up Lorenzen before the trade deadline in a deal with the Detroit Tigers that sent infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee to the Motor City.
Lorenzen had a 3.48 ERA and a 6-7 record going into Wednesday’s start, his second for Philadelphia since the trade.
— with AP
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