Pitch call issues, a grip tweak and HOF-bound Vans: Scenes from Michael Lorenzen’s no-hitter

The count was full, history was nigh, and Phillies catcher J.T. Realmuto had to make a decision in the ninth inning Wednesday night.

Which pitch should he call to cap off a no-hitter?

A change-up? Michael Lorenzen used it all night to slow the Nationals’ bats. But Realmuto thought Dominic Smith had been seeing the change-up too well to chase it out of the strike zone.

» READ MORE: Sielski: Lorenzen made the Phillies, the city, and his mother proud with his no-hitter

Four-seam fastball? Nah. Lorenzen’s heater was still powerful, even as his pitch count climbed to uncomfortable levels. But Realmuto wanted the pitch away from Smith and didn’t trust the lefty hitter not to lay off.

“In my head, it was like, the slider’s the pitch,” Realmuto said. “He’s thrown it well all day long. We’ve got to trust it.”

So, Realmuto pushed a button on the PitchCom transmitter on his left wrist, knowing Lorenzen would concur. The pitcher hadn’t shaken him off yet in two starts with the Phillies.

There was only one problem: Lorenzen couldn’t hear some of the audible sign over the din of 30,406 standing, screaming fans.

“He would get on the [rubber] and the crowd would go down a little bit, so I would try to find the time when the crowd was being a little more quiet, which wasn’t very often,” Realmuto said. “There was a couple of pitches that he couldn’t hear, and I had to give it to him two or three times.”

Lorenzen heard this one. He uncorked a thigh-high slider over the plate. Smith popped it up to center fielder Johan Rojas. The 14th no-hitter in the Phillies’ 141-year history was complete.

“It was a relief,” Realmuto said. “I wanted that so bad for Michael. When that ball went in the air, it’s obviously a different type of moment, but it was reminiscent of when Ranger [Suárez] got the fly ball to send us to the World Series. It was almost that same feeling, like, ‘Yes, we did it!’”

» READ MORE: Lorenzen’s no-hitter: The best social media reactions, highlights and more from a historic Phillies game

But what if the pitch hadn’t been over the plate? What if he walked Smith?

“That might’ve been his last hitter right there,” manager Rob Thomson said.

Seriously? Dylan Covey was loosening in the bullpen (the Phillies had a 7-0 lead), but ... seriously?

“Well,” Thomson said, “I may have had to wear a bulletproof vest.”

As it was, Thomson gave Lorenzen an ultimatum of sorts after the seventh inning. He pulled the pitcher into the tunnel underneath the dugout and asked how he felt after throwing 100 pitches. When the 31-year-old righty said he was “strong,” Thomson told him he had 20 more pitches to finish off the no-hitter.

Lorenzen needed 24, including 13 in the ninth inning. His 124-pitch total surpassed his season high of 101 and career high of 107. It was the most by a Phillies pitcher since Cole Hamels’ 129-pitch no-hitter in 2015. Sean O’Sullivan threw 124 pitches in 5⅓ innings earlier that season.

“In my mind it was like, ‘OK, if he gets 113, 114, 115 pitches [by the end of the eighth inning], we’ve got to get him out.’ Because we’ve got to keep this guy healthy,” Thomson said. “He’s got a career to think about. I’ve got to think about his career.”

Especially because Lorenzen has now pitched 122⅔ innings, surpassing his single-season career high. One factor that played into Thomson’s thinking: The Phillies are off next Monday and Thursday. Lorenzen will get eight days off before starting next Friday in Washington, according to Thomson.

» READ MORE: NBC Sports Philadelphia’s coverage of Phillies no-hitter was just about perfect

“If he’s going on regular rest, I don’t think we get there [to the ninth inning],” Thomson said. “Having the extra rest really played a part in it. He’s going to go into straight recovery here for the next couple days.”

A few other scenes from a no-hitter:

After Lorenzen made his Phillies debut last week in Miami, pitching coach Caleb Cotham noted that he gripped his change-up differently than when they worked together in 2019 with the Reds.

“I texted him some pitch-grip photos I had from Cincinnati and asked him, ‘Talk me through the grip change,’” Cotham said. “It’s a very similar grip but subtly different. That just started some conversations.”

Lorenzen went back to the old grip between starts and “kind of unlocked it,” according to Cotham. He threw 37 change-ups in the no-hitter and got eight swings and misses.

”It was my good change-up,” Lorenzen said. “It’s going to take a while to hone it in even more, but he got that right for me. It’s incredible. He’s like, ‘I’ve had these pictures on my phone for all these years now, and this is the only time it’s ever paid off.’

“And it was all worth it.”

» READ MORE: ‘I think I’m going to go deep tonight’: Inside Weston Wilson’s memorable MLB debut with the Phillies

Eight nights earlier, the Phillies picked up Lorenzen from the Tigers in a deadline trade for infield prospect Hao-Yu Lee. So, as president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski walked through the clubhouse after the game, several players applauded and hollered, “Good trade!”

Lorenzen was billed as pitching insurance. The Phillies may not need him to start a postseason game. But he could be integral to helping them get there, especially if any of the starters miss time down the stretch.

Among the factors that drew the Phillies to a Lorenzen trade: He had a 1.14 ERA in his last four starts for Detroit.

“It did play into it, there’s no question about it,” Dombrowski said. “Not only because we think he’s a good pitcher and was having a good season, but also the way he was throwing the ball at that particular time. It means a lot. Because we know somebody can perform the first three months of the season and be a different performer the last three months of the season.”

Lorenzen’s footwear is his signature. True to his Southern California roots, he wears custom-made cleats from Vans, an Anaheim-based skateboarding shoe company. For his Phillies home debut, he wore white cleats modified from Vans’ UltraRange model.

And now, with his cleats heading to the Hall of Fame, he’s in the market for new pair.

“I’ll have new shoes in time,” Lorenzen said. “It’ll be good. I think we might come out with some Phillie-colored ones, too, which will be good.”

» READ MORE: Sielski: Why Trea Turner’s comeback is a valuable reminder to Philly fans