NEW YORK -- Aaron Judge probably wasn’t expecting much extra zip from Zac Thornton, one of Major League Baseball’s softer-throwing pitchers, in the first inning Saturday at Yankee Stadium. But zip is precisely what Thornton delivered. On an 0-2 count, Thornton challenged Judge with a 95.5 mph fastball on the inside corner, matching his hardest pitch of the season. Judge simply watched it zoom by for strike three.
An inning later, Thornton struck out Spencer Jones on a nearly identical fastball, which dotted the outside corner against the left-handed hitter. All told, Thornton threw six pitches of at least 95 mph in a 12-2 thumping of the Yankees, or as many as he had in his first 12 starts combined. On the day, Thornton averaged 93.6 mph on his four-seamer, which was also a career high.
“He’s just been putting in the work,” said Juan Soto, who hit one of six Mets homers. “It’s really cool to see. And it means a lot for the team.”
The result was one of the rookie’s finest performances to date: seven innings, two runs and a victory on only 81 pitches.
“I didn’t know the numbers of what was coming out of my hand,” Thornton said. “But I was getting good results, so I’m going to keep throwing it like that.”
Zippy fastballs aren’t the norm for Thornton, who relies more on control, deception and the unpredictability of a seven-pitch mix, often coaxing opponents to chase out of the strike zone. But Thornton’s fastball has still been one of his best pitches, in part because of his ability to spot it on the edges (as he did to Jones), and in part because of his willingness to throw it in unpredictable counts (as he did to Judge). Add in a little extra heat, and the pitch becomes an even sharper weapon.
“It gives him so much more margin when he can live at those numbers,” said interim manager Andy Green, who quipped that Thornton’s fresh buzz cut may have only added to his power. “It speeds guys up even more, makes earlier decisions on cutters, opens hips up faster, gives him the outer half access when he needs it or wants it. So in every regard, velo just makes it easier -- especially if it comes with the same command, which for him it has. And it did today.”
“He does a really good job of maintaining a quick tempo, attacking different parts of the zone, keeping the guys off balance,” added Jones, one of four Thornton strikeout victims. “I think he just did a good job of limiting hard contact and preventing guys from getting on early, and he had a lot of success today.”
It helped that Thornton pitched with a lead for the entire afternoon thanks to Francisco Lindor’s leadoff homer -- one of three the Mets clubbed against Gerrit Cole. Lindor later added a grand slam to become the eighth big leaguer with a leadoff homer and a slam in the same game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau, while Soto, Luis Torrens, Carson Benge, and Jared Young also went deep.
Thornton allowed one homer of his own, to Cody Bellinger, who also added an RBI single in the fourth. But Green let Thornton work through his own messes, including a two-on, one-out jam in the seventh. Rather than send pitching coach Justin Willard to the mound before Anthony Volpe came to the plate, Green went personally to “heat check” his pitcher. Not only did Thornton request to stay in the game, but he predicted he would induce an inning-ending double play ball.
Sure enough, Thornton threw a 1-0 changeup in a fastball count, prompting Volpe to roll over it for a 5-4-3 double play.
“Pretty impressive to call it like that,” Green said.
As for the fastball velocity, Thornton said he’s done nothing special to engineer the uptick. Typically, Thornton noted, he holds his velocity well within games and over the course of a season. By the time he hits 120 innings -- he’s at 136 now between the Majors and Minors -- his body tends to react well to the increased workload. As a result, Thornton gets stronger this time of year rather than weaker.
A sold-out crowd of 46,864 on Saturday didn’t hurt, either. About a decade ago, when he was around 15 years old, Thornton took a photograph outside Yankee Stadium on a trip to New York City. Though he didn’t make it inside the park until this weekend, Thornton expected even then to pitch in the Majors someday.
“I love pitching in front of New York fans,” Thornton said. “Whether it’s Yankee fans or Mets fans, I think they’re some of the best fans in the world.”