Tyler Thornburg has been a bright spot for the Red Sox bullpen amid its recent struggles.
It’s been just over a week since pitching coach Dana LeVangie and bullpen coach Craig Bjornson noticed something wasn’t right with Thornburg’s delivery. After working on it with the righty in Detroit, a mechanical change was made — and it certainly seems to have paid off.
Just how good has he been since then?
Since July 21, Thornburg has retired all 10 batters he’s faced while striking out four and surrendering no walks or earned runs. Before the adjustment was made, he allowed five runs on seven hits over 4 1/3 innings pitched.
Sox manager Alex Cora has been using the reliever in higher-leverage situations, including Saturday’s win over the Minnesota Twins when he pitched a perfect eighth inning with Boston up 6-4. He also pitched a clean 10th inning in Friday’s walk-off win with the game tied 3-3.
The skipper said that, despite how well Thornburg has pitched lately, he doesn’t want to overwork him.
“The game will dictate what we do,” Cora said after Saturday’s win, via MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “But he threw the ball well yesterday (Friday). He threw the ball well today (Saturday). We’ve got to be careful with him, too, as far as workload.”
Thornburg’s pitched in consecutive games twice since making his long-awaited return to the mound in early July. And while we don’t how Thornburg will fare the rest of the season, his recent numbers certainly suggest he’s found his groove.
