Washington Nationals news & notes: Nats no-hit; Michael Lorenzen makes history with no-hitter in Citizens Bank Park debut...

It took 18 years, and 2,926 games, but the Washington Nationals were finally no-hit in last night’s 7-0 loss to Michael Lorenzen and the Philadelphia Phillies. Lorenzen, 31, in his first start in Citizens Bank Park after he was acquired from Detroit at the trade deadline earlier this month, walked four, struck out five, and threw 124 pitches, 76 for strikes, generating a total of 13 swinging and 22 called strikes in the outing.

There were some well-struck balls, but Lorenzen got seven groundouts, and 12 fly ball outs from the 31 batters he faced in the 14th no-hitter in Phillies’ franchise history.

As he made his way through the Nationals’ lineup, and got closer and closer to completing his first career no-no, the announced crowd of 30,406 fans in Citizens Bank Park hung on every pitch.

“It was incredible walking out for the seventh, for the eighth, for the ninth,” Lorenzen said, as quoted by MLB.com’s Todd Zolecki after the game.

“It gave me a boost of energy. These fans … man, I’ve never been a part of an organization where the fans are a part of the team. ... They play a role on this field for us, and they gave me that boost that I needed [in the] seventh, eighth and ninth.”

Lorenzen was mobbed by his teammates on the infield after Dominic Smith sent a fly ball to center to end the game.

“I worked insanely hard to to make this dream come true,” Lorenzen said afterwards.

“I’ve watched every single one of Nolan Ryan’s no-hitters, because I’ve always wanted to throw a no-hitter. The fact that I just did it in front of this fan base, I can’t believe it.”

“He had it going on today,” Nats’ skipper Davey Martinez said after the loss. “He was good. Mixed all of his pitches in, threw a bunch of strikes. His changeup was really good to the lefties, slider was good to the righties. Just it was his day today. He threw strikes, he threw the ball over the plate. Just had a good mix of pitches.”

Lorenzen faced the Nationals thirteen times in his career before last night, twice as a starter, with one of the outings last season, but only two current position players on the club faced him before the third of four in CBP, Lane Thomas and Keibert Ruiz. Martinez’s team knew the pitcher they were facing going in though.

“We knew he had a good fastball, four-seam and two-seam. Good slider, good changeup,” Martinez explained.

“But like I said, his changeup was really effective to lefties today. His slider was really good. But he pumped strikes. Kept our hitters off-balance and threw strikes.”

Smith, who went 0 for 4, told reporters after the game Lorenzen was in control throughout the outing.

“He threw a lot of strikes,” Smith said. “He controlled the zone, controlled the tempo, got ahead. And when you’re able to get ahead, sometimes you’re able to get quick outs. And that’s what he was able to do tonight.”

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“I think our whole team had some decent at-bats against him,” Smith added. “His defense played well behind him.”

The Nats’ skipper, as always, took the loss and getting no-hit in stride.

“It’s only one game, right?” Martinez asked rhetorically. “Come back tomorrow and go 1-0.”

“It sucks we weren’t able to get him tonight,” Smith said, “but we’ll see him down the road.”