The wait for Tyler Thornburg’s Boston Red Sox debut will continue for the foreseeable future, but the reliever’s progress has been quite encouraging.
Since being traded to Boston from the Milwaukee Brewers ahead of the 2017 season, Thornburg has yet to appear in a regular or postseason game. He slowly has been rehabbing, spending a good portion of this season on assignment with Triple-A Pawtucket.
Thornburg now is on his second rehab assignment with the PawSox, and in his third outing of stint No. 2, Thornburg again looked solid. And while that is encouraging, what’s more promising is his report afterward.
“Talking with (catcher Dan) Butler, he said he looked like he had a little more zip to his fastball,” PawSox manager Kevin Boles said, via a team press release. “The ball was coming out of his hand good. He said he felt really good after his outing.”
The righty pitched the first inning of the PawSox’s trouncing of the Indianapolis Indians on Sunday. Thornburg threw 12 of his 17 pitches for strikes in his one inning of work, with all 11 of his fastballs landing in the 93-95-mph range. Hitters mustered two flyouts, a soft groundout and walk on him.
All three of Thornburg’s outings during his current stint took place in the last six days, and in that stretch he allowed just one hit and a walk.
Given what Thornburg has gone through, it is a great sign for both him and the Red Sox that he can exit Sunday’s outing and say that he is feeling good after the heavier workload.
Thornburg has a 2.16 ERA and has held opponents to a .188 batting average in 10 Triple-A outings.
