Phillies pitcher Michael Lorenzen gives thanks to God after no-hitter
A newly reassigned Major League Baseball player is thanking God for his success on the field after becoming the first pitcher to throw a no-hitter for his team in nearly a decade.
Michael Lorenzen, who plays for the Philadelphia Phillies, pitched a no-hitter Wednesday as his team fended off the Washington Nationals in a home game at Citizens Bank Park. A no-hitter refers to a game where one team does not get any hits because all the balls thrown out by the pitcher either result in outs, walks or errors. In remarks to NBC Sports Philadelphia immediately after the game, Lorenzen credited his Christian faith for his strong performance.
“I just had God’s grace today and I definitely got to thank God for today. I got to give Him … all the glory just to be able to keep me calm and trusting in Him,” he said. “Whatever happened, I was just going to trust in Him and that’s kind of what I’ve been doing all season in trying to just lean on Him.”
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Lorenzen brought up his faith again in a subsequent interview. In addition to repeatedly declaring “God is good,” he insisted that “the only thing I can do is just step back and thank God for everything, literally everything that He’s done for me.”
Lorenzen’s no-hitter comes just a week after the Phillies announced that they had added Lorenzen to their active roster. The team acquired Lorenzen from the Detroit Tigers. In addition to a brief stint with the Tigers, Lorenzen’s previous MLB experience includes pitching for the Cincinnati Reds from 2015-'21 and the Los Angeles Angels last year.
Lorenzen’s faith also looms large on his social media pages. The biography on his Instagram account describes him as “unashamed of the Gospel of Christ.”
The biography on Lorenzen’s Twitter account, which has not been updated since January, identifies him as a “Servant” and includes a reference to the Bible passage Romans 5:8. The athlete’s mother, Cheryl Lorenzen, took to Twitter to credit God’s blessings with helping her son become the first Phillies pitcher to throw a no-hitter since 2015.
“Incredible night my son,” she wrote. “No one is more deserving than you. The Lord has been so good to you! Stay strong in your faith and keep pushing through!”
Incredible night my son. No one is more deserving then you. The Lord has been so good to you! Stay strong in your faith and keep pushing through! ???????????????? https://t.co/LIoLfytErg
— Cheryl Lorenzen (@CherylLorenzen) August 10, 2023
In an interview with Renewed Strength Fitness published in early 2016, Lorenzen elaborated on his Christian faith. Detailing how he grew up in a turbulent household with drug-addicted and alcoholic parents, Lorenzen recalled how he “never was taught anything about God” and “never raised in a home where I’d learned anything about God other than He existed.”
As a teenager who smoked weed and drank alcohol, Lorenzen encountered a man preaching about Jesus as he and his friends walked on a pier while high. The man stressed to them that “it was more than just to believe in a God,” specifically telling them “you have to serve and live for God.”
“That was something that hit me harder than anything,” he explained. Lorenzen discussed how he “left that place and was really impacted” and concluded that “God had really chosen me to be spoken to.” Following his encounter with the man on the pier, Lorenzen began going to church with his brother. After he started attending church services, Lorenzen discovered that “the message made sense to me for the first time.” Shortly thereafter, he ended up “giving [his] life to the Lord.”
Ryan Foley is a reporter for The Christian Post. He can be reached at: ryan.foley@christianpost.com
