The roller-coaster of emotions a pitcher feels while walking to the mound in the ninth inning and looking for a no-hitter is really hard to describe.
It’s one of those situations that only a handful of people will actually experience.
Throwing nine innings without allowing a hit is one of the hardest things to achieve in baseball.
Philadelphia Phillies starter Michael Lorenzen got to experience that rush of adrenaline on Wednesday night.
He did his best to describe what he felt.
It must have been incredible to be up there.
“Michael Lorenzen, on walking to the mound in the ninth: ‘That was the coolest moment of my baseball career, going out there for the ninth. Just walking out of the dugout and hearing the fans go wild, it gave me the chills. It gave me that boost of energy that I needed for sure,'” Phillies insider Todd Zolecki tweeted after a chat with Lorenzen, who achieved a no-hitter in just his second start with the team.
Michael Lorenzen, on walking to the mound in the ninth: "That was the coolest moment of my baseball career, going out there for the ninth. Just walking out of the dugout and hearing the fans go wild, it gave me the chills. It gave me that boost of energy that I needed for sure."
— Todd Zolecki (@ToddZolecki) August 10, 2023
He came to the Phillies before the deadline, from the Detroit Tigers.
In the two outings he has completed, he has pitched 17 innings of a 1.06 ERA and a 0.65 WHIP.
That’s incredible, ace-like performance for the cost of a prospect that may or may not pan out.
The Phillies are going for it again and want to have a similar run to that of last season, where they reached the World Series.
Lorenzen gives them a deeper rotation and a very solid chance of successfully getting there.
For a night, he was on top of the world, having achieved what few pitchers in the history of the game have.
The fans at Citizens Bank Park surely won’t forget that day.
NEXT: Video Shows Special Angle Of Michael Lorenzen's Final Out
