When Michael Lorenzen blasted a home run in the bottom of the seventh inning against the Dodgers on Friday, it wasn’t just the first time this season that a Cincinnati Reds’ pitcher hit one out of the park. It was much more meaningful than that.

Lorenzen’s father died unexpectedly on Wednesday, and this was the reliever’s first game back. He struck out two batters, and then stepped into the batter’s box for this:

According to manager Bryan Price,

“If you’re around baseball and you’ve been here long enough, you’ll see all sorts of things that you think you’ll never see again or you never thought you would see. This falls under that heading. I never thought I would see something like that, as majestic and poetic and emotional as that moment.” (Cincinnati.com)

Here are Lorenzen’s thoughts on the moment: