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PHILADELPHIA — Michael Lorenzen threw the 14th no-hitter in Philadelphia Phillies history, a dazzling performance in only his second start with his new team, which beat the Washington Nationals 7-0 on Wednesday night.

Lorenzen, 31, struck out five, walked four and improved to 2-0 since he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline for a minor leaguer. His 124 pitches — a career high — are the most by any pitcher in a game this season and the most in a solo no-hitter since Mike Fiers’ 131 in 2019.

Lorenzen retired Lane Thomas on a grounder to open the ninth and struck out Joey Meneses looking. The crowd of 30,406 erupted when Lorenzen retired Dominic Smith on a flyball to end his first career complete game in 2 hours, 9 minutes. Lorenzen flipped his cap backward and was mobbed by his teammates in a rowdy celebration near the plate.

“I didn’t strike out the world in this game. When you are pitching, balls can land in different places. I just had God’s grace today,” Lorenzen said.

Lorenzen’s mother, Cheryl, and wife, Cassi, wept in the stands during the final out, with Cassi holding their 9-month-old-daughter, June. Lorenzen later held his baby aloft on the field and smooched her on the cheek.

“It was incredible. Walking out for the seventh, eighth and ninth, man, these fans. I’ve never been part of an organization where fans are a part of the team,” Lorenzen said. “And they gave me that boost that I needed. … If you are feeling fatigued, you don’t feel it at all in front of these fans.”

Since opening in 2004, Citizens Bank Park had only seen the Phillies throw one no-hitter before Wednesday: Roy Halladay’s against Cincinnati in the NL Division Series on Oct. 6, 2010.

Lorenzen proved he can play a key role in leading the Phillies back to the postseason.

The Phillies acquired the right-hander to stabilize their rotation as the defending National League champions battled the San Francisco Giants for the top wild-card spot.

Kyle Schwarber, Rhys Hoskins and other Phillies clapped, laughed and yelled “great trade” as general manager Dave Dombrowski walked through the clubhouse shaking hands.

The Phillies hadn’t even thrown a complete game this season. Their most recent was last Aug. 25 when Aaron Nola blanked Cincinnati.

Lorenzen pushed his pitch count to the point where it was questionable if manager Rob 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 Chicago Cubs. Hamels, who threw 129 pitches in that game, retired last week.

Thomson said he talked to Lorenzen after the seventh and told the righty he had only about 20 more 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 Nationals entered Wednesday owning the longest active streak of any franchise without being no-hit; the last no-hitter thrown against them, when they were the Montreal Expos, was David Cone’s perfect game with the New York Yankees on July 18, 1999. The franchise had not been no-hit since moving to Washington in 2005.

Lorenzen, an All-Star this season for the Tigers, threw a season-high eight innings of two-run ball in his Phillies debut last week and is the fourth pitcher over the past 30 seasons to throw a no-hitter within his first two games pitched for a franchise.

Lorenzen spent much of his career as a reliever for the Reds, but he’s been exclusively a starter for the Tigers and Los Angeles Angels the past couple seasons. Before Wednesday, his previous career high for pitches thrown in a game was 107, on April 29, 2015, against the Milwaukee Brewers.

It was the second no-hitter caught by J.T. Realmuto; he was also behind the dish for Edinson Vólquez’s no-hitter on June 3, 2017, with the Marlins.

The no-hitter was the fourth in the majors this season. Houston‘s Framber Valdez threw one against Cleveland on Aug. 1. Yankees right-hander Domingo Germán pitched a perfect game at Oakland on June 28 and Matt Manning, Alex Lange and Jason Foley of Detroit threw a combined no-no against Toronto on July 8.

Lorenzen already has one big souvenir from the no-no: Philadelphia’s grounds crew dug up the rubber and presented it to the pitcher in the clubhouse.

The Nationals simply tipped their caps.

“I thought he threw pitches around the zone, not really in the middle of the zone, so he made it difficult for us,” Thomas said. “I thought he made good pitches when he needed to. Especially when his pitch count got high, I thought he threw some good pitches to get some soft contact.”

ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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Cal Raleigh Home Run Watch: After hitting No. 58 on Sunday, will the Big Dumper reach 60?

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Cal Raleigh Home Run Watch: After hitting No. 58 on Sunday, will the Big Dumper reach 60?

The Big Dumper just left the yard again!

In what has become a regular occurrence during Cal Raleigh‘s incredible 2025 season, the Seattle Mariners catcher added another home run to his 2025 total on Saturday — passing another MLB legend in the process — followed by one more on Sunday night.

Raleigh has already surpassed the record for home runs by a catcher and by a switch-hitter and set a Mariners franchise record, and who could forget his Home Run Derby triumph earlier this summer?

What record could Raleigh set next, how many home runs will he finish with and just how impressive is his season? We’ve got it all covered.

Raleigh must-reads: Raleigh’s road to homer history | Surprising 50-HR seasons | Best power half-seasons in MLB history


Raleigh’s current pace

Raleigh is now at 58 home runs and on pace for 60 with seven games left.

The American League record is 62, set by Aaron Judge in 2022, and there have been only nine 60-home run seasons in MLB history.


Who Raleigh passed with his latest home run

With his 58th home run on Sunday night, Raleigh moved past Luis Gonzalez and Alex Rodriguez on the all-time single-season home run list. With No. 57 the night before, Raleigh surpassed Ken Griffey Jr.’s Mariners franchise record of 56 — a number Griffey reached twice — in the 1997 and 1998 seasons.

Raleigh has joined Griffey as the only Mariners with 50 home runs (or even 45) in a season. Raleigh is also the first Seattle slugger with 40 homers in a season since Nelson Cruz in 2016.


Who Raleigh can catch with his next home run

After passing Mickey Mantle, Griffey and A-Rod with his most recent blasts, the next big question for Raleigh is if he can get to No. 60. But he is already in rare company as No. 59 would move him past Jimmie Foxx and Hank Greenberg on the all-time single-season home run list.


Raleigh’s 5 most impressive feats of 2025

Most home runs in a season by a switch-hitter

With his 55th home run, Raleigh knocked Mickey Mantle, who hit 54 in 1961, from the top spot. Breaking Salvador Perez‘s record of 48 home runs by a primary catcher understandably got a lot of attention, but beating Mantle’s mark is arguably more impressive given how long the record stood and the Hall of Famer’s stature.

One of the best months ever for a catcher

In May, Raleigh hit .304/.430/.739 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs. Only four catchers have hit more home runs in a calendar month and only eight with at least 100 plate appearances produced a higher slugging percentage. Raleigh was almost as good in June, hitting .300/.398/.690 with 11 home runs and 27 RBIs, giving him two-month totals of .302/.414/.714 with 23 home runs and 53 RBIs. In one blazing 24-game stretch from May 12 to June 7, Raleigh hit .319 with 14 home runs.

Reaching 100 runs and 100 RBIs

Raleigh is sitting on 107 runs scored while leading the American League with 121 RBIs. Only eight other primary catchers have reached 100 in both categories in the same season — Mike Piazza did it twice, in 1997 and 1999, and he and Ivan Rodriguez were the last catchers to do it in ’99. Of the other catchers, seven are in the Hall of Fame (Piazza, Rodriguez, Mickey Cochrane, Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Johnny Bench and Carlton Fisk). The lone exception is Darrell Porter, who reached the milestone with the Royals in 1979.

Tying Ken Griffey Jr.’s club record for home runs

Griffey hit 56 home runs for the Mariners in 1997 and 1998, leading the AL both seasons and winning the MVP Award in 1997 (he and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 are Seattle’s two MVP winners). Griffey had the advantage of playing in the cozy confines of the Kingdome in those years, although his home/road splits were fairly even. Raleigh, however, has had to play in a tough park to hit in, with 30 of his 56 home runs coming on the road, where his OPS is about 100 points higher. That marks only the 19th time a player has reached 30 road homers (by contrast, 30 homers at home has been accomplished 37 times).

An outside shot at most total bases by a catcher

With 337 total bases, Raleigh’s 2025 campaign is already one of only 20 catcher seasons with 300 total bases (yes, time at DH has helped him here). The record is 355, shared by Piazza in 1997 and Bench in 1970 (both played 150-plus games in those seasons). Raleigh would need a strong finish to get there but could at least move into third place ahead of Perez’s 337 total bases in 2021. Not counted in Raleigh’s total bases: his 14 stolen bases!

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Raleigh’s 58th HR fuels Mariners’ sweep of Astros

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Raleigh's 58th HR fuels Mariners' sweep of Astros

HOUSTON — Seattle Mariners star Cal Raleigh hit his MLB-leading 58th home run on Sunday night, a two-run shot in the second inning against the Houston Astros.

The Mariners were up 5-0 after a grand slam by J.P. Crawford in the second when Raleigh, who was batting left-handed, connected off Jason Alexander for his home run to right field to extend the lead.

The shot came a night after Raleigh passed Ken Griffey Jr. for the franchise’s single-season home run record with his 57th. Griffey hit 56 in 1997 and in 1998.

Raleigh also has surpassed Mickey Mantle‘s MLB record of 54 home runs by a switch-hitter that had stood since 1961. And Raleigh has set the MLB record for homers by a catcher this season, eclipsing the 48 hit by Salvador Perez in 2021.

Raleigh is five home runs ahead of Los Angeles Dodgers star Shohei Ohtani and Philadelphia Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber, who are tied for second place with 53 apiece.

The Mariners won 7-3 to complete a three-game sweep that gave them a three-game lead in the American League West over the Astros with six remaining.

Seattle, which has won four straight and 14 of 15, holds the second AL playoff seed by two games over AL Central-leading Detroit, which has dropped six in a row. The Mariners, looking to win the AL West for the first time since 2001, finished 8-5 against the Astros this season.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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First AL ticket punched as Jays earn playoff spot

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First AL ticket punched as Jays earn playoff spot

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Toronto Blue Jays became the first American League team to secure a spot in the postseason on Sunday with an 8-5 victory against the Kansas City Royals.

The AL-best and AL East-leading Blue Jays locked up a playoff spot with a week remaining in the regular season after a less-than-stellar start of 16-20 in early May and trailing by as many as eight games in the division in late May.

“I remember back when we were in Tampa in May, we weren’t playing very well and we got swept there,” Blue Jays manager John Schneider said. “I think these guys did a great job of rallying around each other, but the turning point was really when we came out of Tampa and went into the Texas series.”

This is Toronto’s third playoff berth in four years and fourth in six seasons. They missed the postseason in 2021 and 2024. Playoff success has been elusive for the Blue Jays, who haven’t won a postseason game since 2016. And, unlike the past three trips, they hope this year they won’t have to play in the AL wild-card round as they try to win their first division title since 2015 as they close out the regular season with a six-game homestand against Boston and Tampa Bay.

“You could feel it with this group in spring training,” Schneider said. “I know that sounds really cliché, but when you get a group of men that are committed to the same goal, you can do things like this.”

The Blue Jays’ 90-66 record is tops in the AL and they lead their division by 2½ games over the New York Yankees. If Toronto wins the AL East and has one of the two best records in the league, it will advance to the AL Divisional Series, which starts Oct. 4.

The last time Toronto made it that far was nine years ago.

“I’m just so happy for them,” Schneider said. “It’s hard at this level for everyone to put their egos aside and to play for one another. It’s so cool to see these guys completely happy for one another when they get the job done no matter who it is. This is the most fulfilling team I’ve ever been a part of with different characters, different skill sets, guys coming together for one common goal which is what’s important now. This is something you always celebrate.”

The Blue Jays are trying to win their first World Series since 1993.

“Today we go back to the postseason, but the journey is not over yet,” Vladimir Guerrero Jr. said. “We still want to win the division over the next six games. Since spring training, everyone has been together and when you see a team like that you start believing.”

Toronto snapped a four-game losing streak with Sunday’s win, and after the game popped champagne in the visitors clubhouse in Kansas City.

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