Pitching in front of a 1986 Mets team that can appreciate such traits, Zac Thornton showed more grit than gas.
More savvy than stuff.
More resilience than results.
So there were reasons to be encouraged.
And there were more obvious reasons to be discouraged.
For the first time Thornton was knocked around, which is a concern for a pitcher with plenty to prove.
But while wearing a uniform with racing stripes along the side of his body, the young Mets lefty handled the first adversity of his major league career well.
If there is a quality that the ’86 Mets personified, it probably would be the fight that Thornton demonstrated Saturday afternoon.
On a day the Mets’ organization and fans celebrated their most recent World Series title, the 2026 version of the team ensured virtually no attention was paid to when the next one will arrive.
The Mets lost again, 6-2 to the Marlins, in front of 30,078 at Citi Field who thanked the past and cursed the present.
The best and maybe only positive thing to arise from this year’s disastrous club (47-65) is what looks like the formation of a young rotation that might carry them in the future.
Behind Nolan McLean and Christian Scott, Thornton has emerged over the past five-plus weeks and looked like a keeper.
These Mets games don’t matter, but Thornton — who was called up for good in late June and entered play having allowed four runs in 25 ⅓ innings (1.42 ERA) in four starts since — does.
Which is why Saturday’s outing, in which he allowed four runs (three earned) on six hits and three walks with two strikeouts in 4 ⅔ innings, was not ideal but also not wasted.
The 24-year-old rookie was not going to dazzle every start.
Limiting damage without his best stuff — holding Miami to 1-for-6 with runners in scoring position to — is a lesson worth learning.
The Marlins scored once in the first, which was more a result of a Francisco Lindor error and Otto Lopez wreaking havoc on the bases, and began teeing off against Thornton in the second.
After a Kyle Stowers single, Javier Sanoja waited on a Thornton cutter and slugged it over the left field wall.
Three runs were scored before Thornton recorded a fourth out — or one fewer run that Thornton had given up in his past four starts combined.
The Marlins proceeded to load the bases in a 35-pitch inning, but Thornton induced a fly out from Xavier Edwards to escape a frame that for a while looked as if it might be his last.
Thornton bounced back with a strong third and again encountered trouble in the fourth, hitting Esteury Ruiz and allowing a single to Griffin Conine to put runners on the corners without an out.
But again, at a moment when the game might have become far more lopsided, he allowed just a sacrifice fly before getting out of the inning.
He recorded two more outs in the fifth before walking Stowers, pulled after 94 pitches (56 strikes) in which his velocity — never a strength — was a touch down.
On a day the Mets only scored with a two-run home run from Tyrone Taylor, they were not going to have much of a chance even if Thornton were excellent.
Thornton was not, but there were many eyes on him that appreciated how he battled nonetheless.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: nypost.com
