The Philadelphia Phillies acquired Michael Lorenzen at the trading deadline in hopes of bolstering their starting rotation as they made a playoff push.
In just his second start with the team, he more than delivered, tossing a no-hitter in a 7-0 win over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday night in Philadelphia.
Lorenzen’s outing was the fourth no-hitter of the season and came just eight days after the previous one, in which Framber Valdez allowed only one baserunner and faced the minimum number of hitter against the Cleveland Guardians.
Lorenzen had a more treacherous path to history. He entered the ninth inning with 111 pitches, already a season high, and had already walked four batters.
He completed the no-hitter by getting Nationals first baseman Dominic Smith to fly out to center fielder Johan Rojas. Lorenzen ended up with 124 pitches, passing the Los Angeles Angels right-hander Griffin Canning for the most thrown by any pitcher in a game this season.
Starters these days typically throw around 100 pitches per game, and worries about overtaxing pitchers with high pitch counts have led to some managers pulling the plug on no-hit bids. Last season, for example, Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts removed the star left-hander Clayton Kershaw from a cold April game in Minnesota after seven perfect innings, even though he had thrown only 80 pitches.
But with the Phillies leading by seven runs against the Nationals, the last-place team in the National League East, Manager Rob Thomson could afford to leave Lorenzen in the game.
Lorenzen joined Philadelphia earlier this month through a trade from Detroit, where he had been in his first season. He was the Tigers’ requisite representative at last month’s All-Star Game in Seattle, where he pitched two-thirds of an inning in relief.