Phillies gives Michael Lorenzen eight days of rest after his 124-pitch no-hitter in historic Nationals win
- The 31-year-old right-hander threw a career-high 124 pitches in his no-no
- Lorenzen is now not expected to pitch again until August 18 in Washington
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Philadelphia Phillies starting pitcher Michael Lorenzen gets some extra rest after pushing himself beyond his normal limits by throwing a no-hitter.
The 31-year old right-hander Phillies threw a whopping 124 career-high pitches against the Washington Nationals on Wednesday-evening. Lorenzen made his first home start for Philadelphia, which acquired the All-Star in a trade with Detroit.
Lorenzen will not be re-seated until August 18 in Washington. Philadelphia operates on a six-man rotation to ease the starters’ workload, and they also have two days off next week.
Lorenzen said Thursday his arm hurt “10 percent more” than after a normal outing. His previous career high was 107 pitches in 2015, rookie year.
“Nothing too crazy,” Lorenzen said. ‘But the eight (free) days will help a bit. Trying to get back into a routine before my next start should help.”
Michael Lorenzen gets extra rest after his no-hitter against the Nationals
He became the first player to throw a no-hitter on his home debut since Don Cardwell in 1960
The defending NL champion Phillies has the highest wild card spot in the league. The six-man rotation is temporary, manager Rob Thomson said.
“After we get through the days off, we’ll probably go back to the five-man rotation,” he said. “We have a lot of days off there and a lot of guys will get five days off there.”
Lorenzen was a day after the best performance of his career with tears in his eyes. He was woken up at 6:30 a.m. by his 9-month-old daughter, June.
“My eyes are burning,” Lorenzen said. ‘There wasn’t much sleep. But it was fun thinking about it and reliving it.”
The 31-year-old Phillies right-hander threw a career-high 124 pitches in his no-no
Without him on Thursday night, Trea Turner, Nick Castellanos and JT Realmuto hit two-run homers to lead the Phillies to a 6-2 victory over the Nationals.
The Phillies took three of four games in the Nationals’ series, including Lorenzen’s no-hitter on Wednesday night.
Philadelphia moved 1 1/2 games ahead of inactive San Francisco for first place in the NL wild card race.
Philadelphia (64-52) improved to a season-best 12 games over .500. The Phillies are 39-22 as of June 1, a win total matched only by NL East leading Atlanta, which is 39-19 in that stretch.