‘With all the vim of a washerwoman’: How The Inquirer covered all 14 Phillies no-hitters, dating back to 1885

Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter was the 14th in Phillies franchise history, including one combined no-hitter. Here’s a look back at all of them.

Phillies 7, Nationals 0

Eight days after the Phillies acquired 31-year-old Lorenzen from the Tigers in a deadline deal, the righty no-hit the Nationals. It was the first for the team since Cole Hamels in 2015.

» READ MORE: Michael Lorenzen throws first Phillies no-hitter since 2015 in 7-0 win over Nationals

It was a game full of other memorable moments, like 28-year-old rookie Weston Wilson hitting a home run in his first major-league at-bat and Nick Castellanos belting two of his own, including the 200th of his career.

The Nationals were no-hit for the first time in 3,810 games, which was the longest active streak without being no-hit in all of baseball before it was snapped by Lorenzen.

In case you’re wondering, the last no-hitter thrown against the Nationals came back in the 1990s, more than 24 years ago, when the Nationals weren’t even the Nationals — they were the Montreal Expos. The Yankees’ David Cone was the last to toss a no-hitter against them, back on July 18, 1999. Prior to that? A 1991 no-hitter by Phillies starter Tommy Greene and a September 1983 no-hitter by Cardinals starter Bob Forsch.

So for those keeping track, the Nationals/Expos have been no-hit four times in the last 40 years and two of them have been by the Phillies.

Phillies 5, Cubs 0

Cole Hamels delivered his first career no-hitter, the 13th in franchise history, in a 5-0 Phillies win over the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Two walks were the lone blemishes in an otherwise incredible — and incredibly timely — performance for the Phillies ace and top trade chip at the time.

“Just a surreal moment,” Hamels said. “Nothing will top winning a World Series, but I think this is probably on that top list. That’s right under it.”

Hamels became the first pitcher to no-hit the Cubs since Sept. 9, 1965, the date of Sandy Koufax’s perfect game and then-record-setting fourth no-hitter; he’s also the last pitcher to no-hit the Cubs. Hamels’ gem was the third no-hitter in the major leagues during the 2015 season, after the San Francisco Giants’ Chris Heston and Washington Nationals’ Max Scherzer.

Less than a year earlier, Hamels was part of another no-no, this one a group effort.

Phillies 7, Braves 0

The 2014 combined no-hitter was celebrated with champagne.

“A rolling laundry cart inside the visitors’ clubhouse at Turner Field became an ice bucket. It held six champagne bottles. One for every Phillies pitcher and catcher who authored history, plus an extra for good measure,” Inquirer writer Matt Gelb wrote at the time.

» READ MORE: Four Phillies pitchers combine for no-hitter

“I’m happy the outcome came out the way that it did because this is truly one of the better experiences you can probably have in this sort of situation,” starter Cole Hamels said after the game. “It was a whole complete team effort. Most of the time when you see these sort of events it’s one or two people, a great play.”

The Phillies needed to use four pitchers because Hamels threw 108 pitches in just the first six innings. There was another local connection to this one as well, as Braves infielder Phil Gosselin, a West Chester native, lined Jonathan Papelbon’s slider to first base for the 27th out.

Phillies 4, Reds 0

“With amazing command of all four pitches and a surprising reliance on a 78-mile-an-hour curveball as his strikeout pitch, Halladay fanned eight Reds, three coming during an incredibly dominant stretch of the seventh and eighth inning, when Halladay threw seven pitches and still managed to strike out Johnny Gomes and Drew Stubbs,” writer Sam Donellon wrote in 2010.

The late Phillies ace threw the second no-hitter in postseason history in a 4-0 win over the Cincinnati Reds in Game 1 of the National League Division Series.

Aside from Halladay, there have only been two other no-hitters in postseason history — and they both came in the World Series. The first was a perfect game by the Yankees’ Don Larsen in Game 5 of the 1956 World Series. The other was a combined no-no from the Astros in 2022 against the Phillies. Halladay’s would have been a perfect game had he not issued a six-pitch walk in the fifth inning to Jay Bruce, who was the Reds’ lone base runner.

Halladay, who earlier in the year pitched a perfect game, became just the fifth pitcher all-time to have two no-hitters in the same season (counting the playoffs). The others were Johnny Vander Meer (1938), Allie Reynolds (1951), Virgil Trucks (1952) and Nolan Ryan (1973).

Phillies 1, Marlins 0

Halladay became the 20th pitcher in major-league history and second Phillie to pitch a perfect game. The Phillies defeated the Florida Marlins, 1-0, on an unearned run in the third inning.

» READ MORE: Roy Halladay throws perfect game Phillies vs. Miami Marlins

The final out was a ball hit into the hole on the left side. Juan Castro, who had played just two innings at third base that season entering the game, made the play, spun around and threw to first to retire pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino.

Halladay pounded his right fist into his black glove and put his arms up as Carlos Ruiz ran toward him for a bear hug.

After Halladay threw his perfect game against the Marlins, Jim Bunning, the only other Phillie who pitched a perfect game, was watching on television. Afterward, he sent a baseball to the Phillies pitcher.

“From somebody who knows what it feels like,” Bunning wrote on the ball. “Congratulations.”

» READ MORE: Remembering Roy Halladay's perfect game and playoff-no hitter

Phillies 1, Giants 0

Sometimes even speaking the words “no” and “hitter” before the final out is made is considered sacrilege in baseball. And players take it one step further, often refusing to talk to the starting pitcher when he’s still working on a no-hitter. So in 2003, when Millwood wanted to talk, his teammates refused to speak to him.

“No way was one of them going to be blamed for jinxing one of the most memorable days in Phillies history and a scrapbook moment in Millwood’s career,” wrote Shannon Ryan for The Inquirer in 2003.

For nine innings, the ace righthander hurled fastballs over the plate and recorded his first career no-hitter in a 1-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

With each strike, the 40,016 people in Veterans Stadium roared, and the red-bearded pitcher maintained his steely gaze and unshakable focus, Ryan wrote.

“It’s a little hard to put into words,” said Millwood, 28, who threw a one-hit shutout against Pittsburgh with Atlanta in 1998. “Every starting pitcher, it’s the goal to do it once.”

“That was unbelievable,” Phillies manager Larry Bowa said of Millwood’s performance. “As a manager, that’s the best [I’ve seen]. One in October would be better.”

Phillies 2, Expos 0

Throwing 92-mph fastballs, Tommy Greene struck out 10 Montreal Expos and walked seven en route to a 2-0 victory, and never seemed troubled by the pressure. It was the eighth no-hitter in Phillies history and the Phils’ first road no-hitter since 1971.

In the Phils’ clubhouse, players chanted, “Green-ie, Green-ie, Green-ie.”

“You got one, Bubba!” reliever Mitch Williams yelled as he hugged Greene.

» READ MORE: Tommy Greene recalls winning the NLCS clincher for ’93 Phillies

Everyone in the locker room took turns hugging and high-fiving the 24-year-old emergency pitcher.

With a tiny crowd of 8,833 fans watching, the hard-throwing Greene threw 130 pitches — 76 strikes and 54 balls.

“This, is just the best feeling — the best,” Phils catcher Darrin Fletcher said after catching a no-hitter in only the 27th game of his major-league career. “I was just hoping and praying out there.”

“It doesn’t matter to me if I’m a starter or reliever; I just want to help this team,” said Greene, who was acquired with Dale Murphy in the deal that sent Jeff Parrett, Jim Vatcher, and Victor Rosario to the Atlanta Braves a season earlier. “I know I can pitch here [in the majors]. I’m just happy they gave me a chance to show it.”

Phillies 6, Giants 0

Terry Mulholland was the first Phillie to pitch a no-hitter at home in Philadelphia in the 20th century. Inquirer writer Jayson Stark captured the nervousness of his teammates that night:

» READ MORE: John Kruk was a hit for the 1993 Phillies and ‘solid gold’ for David Letterman on late night TV

Mulholland had yet to fully establish himself as a part of the Phillies’ starting rotation and began the game with a season record of 6-6 and a 4.34 ERA. In his previous five starts, he had given up a total of 46 hits in 33 innings, according to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR).

» READ MORE: New York Times archives: Phillies' Mulholland Pitches Season's 8th No-Hitter

Mulholland’s opponents were his former San Francisco teammates, the defending National League pennant winners.

Phillies 4, Reds 0

Wise’s no-hitter in 1971 included additional feats: He hit two home runs in the same game — and he did it while battling a cold.

» READ MORE: 50 years later, Rick Wise’s historic night with the Phillies might never be matched

“I’m not surprised by them,” he said of his home runs at the time. “I’ve been hitting the ball pretty good lately and it seems that all the balls I’ve hit were extra-base hits. I hit a high slider for the first homer and a fastball right down the middle for the second.”

On his pitching, “I didn’t feel especially strong warming up,” he said. “I still had this head cold that affected me in New York, although I was a lot better tonight.”

» READ MORE: Ex-Phillie Rick Wise remembers era of "pure baseball"

Inquirer writer Alan Lewis wrote: “It seems as if Wise was born pitching. The native of Jackson, Mich., was a strong armed hot shot in high school. Before that he was a Little League World Series player. He grew up believing that throwing baseballs hard, and under pressure, was a man’s natural state. And he did it all in those years. Pitched the ball, fielded it, and hit it.”

Phillies 6, Mets 0

A father of seven children, Bunning pitched the Phillies’ first perfect game, and the seventh in Major League Baseball history on Father’s Day in 1964, even defying the baseball gods by talking to his teammates about it long before the final out.

» READ MORE: Bunning's 1964 perfect game set Phillies standard

“He talked about it on the bench, starting about the sixth inning,” Bunning’s teammate and catcher Gus Triandos said at the time. “I’d never seen him so gabby. He was talking to the hitters and gabbing on the bench. He must have felt something coming on.”

Bunning admitted he had been talking a lot.

“I do that,” he said, “to take my mind off how hot it is. It keeps me loose.”

A 2014 Inquirer column by Bill Lyons recounted the game.

Philles 6, Superbas 0

In 1906, a then-20-year-old Lush no-hit the Brooklyn Superbas at Brooklyn’s Washington Park. He bested Brooklyn pitcher Mal Easton, who would later go on to pitch a no-hitter himself that season against the St. Louis Cardinals. A description of the game from a 1906 edition of The Inquirer is as follows:

Phillies 10, Colts (Cubs) 0

Chick Fraser’s no-no in 1903 remains the game with the largest margin of victory for a Phillies no-hitter. While the team committed four errors in that second game of a doubleheader, the Phillies defeated the Chicago Cubs, 10-0.

Phillies 5, Beaneaters 0

Donahue signed with the New York Giants in 1893 while he was still at Villanova University. Eventually, after losing a lot of games with the St. Louis Browns, he was traded to the Phillies in 1897, where he pitched the team’s second no-hitter in July 1898.

The description of the game that appeared in The Inquirer in 1898 was unusually dramatic:

Another description of the no-hitter was recounted in Donahue’s obituary in The Inquirer in 1913:

“Pitching for the Phillies in 1898 and against the formidable Bostons of that time, he prevented the then called Bean Eaters from making a hit, despite the fact that such pitcher terrors as Fred Tenney, Jack Stivetts, Hughey Duffy, Jimmy Collins and Bob Lowe were batting against him.”

Quakers 1, Grays 0

At just 22 years old, Ferguson pitched his no-hitter against the Grays. It was the team’s second season in existence.

An account of the game in The Inquirer in 1885 says:

“Ferguson, the pitcher of the Philadelphia Base Ball Club, accomplished the feat of retiring the Providence nine without a hit in a full nine inning game at Recreation Park on Saturday. The visitors retired from the field defeated by the score of 1 to 0. Ganzel backed Ferguson in excellent style, and played without an error. Shaw, the Providence pitcher, was wild at times. The run was made in the last inning, when Mulvey hit safely and stole second. Farrar struck a fly to Radford, and was put out. Fogarty then advanced Mulvey to third by a sacrifice hit to Start. A wild throw, missed by Gilligan, enabled Mulvey to make home safely after some excitement. Like most pitching contests the game was tedious and uninteresting on the whole.”

Ferguson had a short career, dying in 1888 of typhoid fever just before his 25th birthday.