Zac Thornton had a feeling before the biggest moment of his day arrived at Yankee Stadium, and then he made sure everybody heard it.
With the seventh inning tightening up and two runners aboard, the Mets rookie left-hander told the dugout he wanted the ball in that spot. Andy Green let him keep going, and Thornton answered by getting Anthony Volpe to roll a changeup to Bo Bichette at third base for an inning-ending double play. It was the kind of finish that turns a solid outing into a statement.
Thornton went seven innings in the Mets’ 12-2 win over the Yankees on Saturday afternoon, allowing two earned runs on five hits and one walk while striking out four. He walked off to a loud reception after helping the Mets cruise through a sold-out Subway Series crowd.
"Pretty impressive to call it like that and to get it," Green said. "I don't know that I'm going to believe every single time he says it, but it was a great way for him to end a really good start."
For Thornton, the outing also said something about what he’s learned after getting knocked around last week. The Giants hit four homers off him at Citi Field in a rough five-inning, six-earned-run outing, but he said he took that lesson into his next work.
"Last week, just didn't do a great job of getting those four-seams in or those cutters in, so kind of hounded it this week in the bullpens and whatnot and then executed it in the game," Thornton said.
Green had been looking for exactly this kind of response from his young pitchers - a bad day, then the adjustment. Thornton showed it against the Yankees by stranding a runner in each of the final four innings he worked and never letting the game tilt back toward New York.
He also had some of the best velocity of his young career. Thornton threw six fastballs at 95 mph or harder, and he used that heat early to freeze Aaron Judge and Spencer Jones on pitches on the edge of the plate to the arm side. Those were two of his three strikeouts through the first two innings.
"It gives him so much more margin when he can live at those numbers. It speeds guys up even more, makes earlier decisions on cutters, opens hips up faster, it gives him outer half access when it needs it or wants it. 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."
The win pushed Thornton to 4-5 with a 3.44 ERA and 1.16 WHIP in 13 starts. He said he’s still treating every outing like a chance to prove he belongs, and he named the group he’s competing alongside for a rotation spot moving forward: Nolan McLean, Christian Scott, Sean Manaea, Jonah Tong and Kodai Senga.
"I feel like every outing that I have here, I'm still trying to prove myself, prove that I can compete at the major league roster, prove that I can be on this '27 roster and rotation," Thornton said.
Thornton had plenty of breathing room because the Mets jumped on Gerrit Cole immediately. Francisco Lindor opened the scoring with a leadoff homer, Luis Torrens followed with a two-run blast and Carson Benge added a solo shot, all in the first three innings for a 4-0 lead.
Lindor kept pouring it on later, too. He added an eighth-inning grand slam and finished 3-for-5 with five RBI and two runs.
"We were able to get the pitches that we were looking for and just attack and not miss the baseball," Lindor said. "Usually guys like (Cole) don't make mistakes and when they do, you got to try and make them pay."
The Mets finished with a season-high six home runs. Juan Soto, Carson Benge and Jared Young also went deep, giving the club a look at what a healthy 2027 offense can resemble.
"It's one of those that if we played together from the beginning, there was a lot of injuries and there was a lot of ups and downs," Lindor said. "I didn't play well when I was playing, so if we would have from the beginning done what we are doing now, it would have been a whole different layout, but we put ourselves in this position and we can only worry about what we have today."
In Other News...
Mets Yankees Game Took A Disturbing Turn Fans Wont Forget
A Subway Series night at Yankee Stadium already carried unusual weight, landing on the 25th anniversary of September 11. Then the game was interrupted when a fan ran onto the field carrying a Palestinian flag and wearing a No Kings jersey, turning what should have been a routine September matchup into a tense scene in front of a packed crowd.
Security quickly tackled the man, later identified as 38-year-old Kelly Marcucci, and he was charged with trespassing and a local ordinance violation. The delay was brief, but the moment lingered after play resumed, with the crowd reacting in chants as the game moved on. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Spent This Rivalry Night Chasing An Early Mistake
The Mets spent a rivalry night trying to climb out of an early hole in the Bronx, with the Yankees building their edge behind a steady start from Carlos Rodn and a rough outing from Nolan McLean. On the 25th anniversary of 9/11, the game had the kind of back-and-forth feel that can turn tense quickly, but New Yorks side of the scoreboard was chasing from the start after McLean was tagged for five runs over five innings.
A late push gave the Mets a chance to make things interesting, and they kept pressing against their crosstown rival deep into the game. Still, the deficit they created early proved too much to erase in a 6-4 loss, another reminder that against the Yankees, one bad stretch can shape the whole night even when the closing moments offer a flicker of life. [Read more 🡒]
Mets Face A Costly Clay Holmes Question All Over Again
Clay Holmes is back in the kind of free-agent conversation that can make a front office pause. Spotrac pegs the relievers market at roughly $22.9 million a year, with a deal that could climb into the $68 million to $70 million range over three years, and that price tag naturally forces the Mets to weigh how much they want to commit to a pitcher who could help in more than one role. The appeal is obvious: Holmes would give New York another arm to consider for the bullpen or even the starting rotation, which adds flexibility to a staff that still needs quality innings.
The financial picture may get even trickier depending on how the next collective bargaining agreement shapes the market, since timing can move free-agent salaries in either direction. For the Mets, the question is not simply whether Holmes fits, but whether he fits as part of a larger pitching plan that might also include other additions. Sean Manaea and Tarik Skubal enter the broader conversation as benchmarks for value and impact, but Holmes remains the name that could force New York to decide how aggressively it wants to buy stability on the mound. [Read more 🡒]