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Michael Lorenzen: ‘That was the coolest moment of my baseball career’

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen, left, and J.T. Realmuto celebrate after Lorenzen’s no-hitter during a baseball game against the Washington Nationals, Wednesday, Aug. 9, 2023, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Michael Lorenzen has made two starts as a member of the Phillies, but he’s probably popular enough to get elected Mayor of Philadelphia right now.

After being acquired from the Detroit Tigers prior to the trade deadline, Lorenzen went eight innings in his Phillies debut last Thursday, a 4-2 win over the Miami Marlins.

In the six days between his first and second start with the Phillies, you began to wonder if Lorenzen might have made too good of a first impression with the Phillies by limiting the Marlins to six hits and two earned runs over eight innings.

Spoiler alert: That was just the appetizer.

In his first start wearing red pinstripes in front of the home crowd at Citizens Bank Park, Lorenzen pitched the 14th no-hitter in Phillies history. It was the first ever by a Phillie in a regular season game at Citizens Bank Park, which opened in 2004. The only other no-hitter thrown by a Phillie at the stadium came in Game 1 of the 2010 NLDS, when Hall of Famer Roy Halladay held the Cincinnati Reds hitless.

It was a fairytale evening for Lorenzen.

“It’s unbelievable to be honest,” Lorenzen acknowledged to a swarm of reporters after the game. “I’ve always dreamt about being able to throw a no-hitter and having the opportunity. Skip [Rob Thomson] gave me that opportunity to go 120+ pitches and man, it was incredible.”

While Lorenzen did walk four, he was in total control after seven innings. The Phillies were also in total control of the game, with Nick Castellanos and Weston Wilson combining for three home runs in what turned out to be a 7-0 win over the Nationals.

The only question was whether manager Rob Thomson would allow Lorenzen to keep pitching given that he had 100 pitches after his seventh frame was completed.

Thomson said after the seventh inning, he and Lorenzen went down into the tunnel, and had a discussion about how he was feeling physically. Thomson, like all managers in today’s game, is sensitive to making sure he doesn’t put his pitcher’s health in jeopardy. It wouldn’t be fair to Lorenzen — who is set to become a free agent this offseason — nor would it be fair to a team that acquired him with aspirations of winning a World Series.

But Lorenzen told Thomson he felt good physically after seven innings. And so Thomson told Lorenzen that he had 20 pitches to work with. When it only took Lorenzen 11 pitches to set the Nationals down in order in the eighth inning, it was clear that he was going to at least be given the chance to start the ninth.

And as Lorenzen emerged from the dugout for the ninth inning, Citizens Bank Park erupted.

“That was the coolest moment of my baseball career, going out there for the ninth,” Lorenzen said. “Just walking out of the dugout and hearing the fans go wild, it gave me the chills and gave me that boost of energy that I needed for sure.”

Lorenzen needed just six pitches to retire the first two batters he faced, Lane Thomas and Joey Meneses. A night after playing the villain with two home runs against the Phillies, Meneses struck out looking.

It took Lorenzen seven pitches to retire the game’s final batter, Dominic Smith. The long-time New York Met put up quite a fight before flying out to center field, where the sure-handed Johan Rojas was waiting to make the catch, sealing one of the most special nights in Citizens Bank Park history.

What’s crazy is that Thomson likely would have pulled Lorenzen if he hadn’t retired Smith on the 3-2 count. Even had it been a walk, Lorenzen was at 124 pitches, meaning he had already thrown four more than Thomson had allotted to him after the seventh inning. Yunior Marte was warming in the bullpen. Thomson joked that he would have needed to wear a bulletproof vest to walk out to the mound and take Lorenzen out of the game, had it come to that.

But it never got to that point, and Lorenzen made sure to repeatedly praise the impact that his newfound fans had on giving him an extra adrenaline boost before the ninth inning.

“As I’m walking out, I’m telling you, the fans going crazy, it’s hard not to get a little emotional because this is what I’ve worked for,” he said. “This is a dream come true. I’m walking out for the ninth inning … I have no hits … I’m in a city like Philly … these guys are going crazy … I can’t hear the pitchcom, even though it’s all the way up to the highest level. And so, it got a little emotional before that ninth inning started, and it gave my body that boost that I needed.”

Back At It Never Again(?) With The White Vans

Throughout the course of his nine-year career, Lorenzen has worn a variety of cleats made by Vans, the Anaheim-based skateboarding shoe company. He debuted an all-white pair Wednesday, just in time for the greatest start of his career:

Everyone from Julia Roberts to Howard Eskin has donned Vans at one point or another, they are cool shoes. But they aren’t necessarily associated with baseball.

Lorenzen, though, has made them a thing in the baseball world now. And if his current ones are headed to Cooperstown, he says he needs another pair made ASAP.