ALVAREZ, MAYFIELD PACE 7-2 WIN OVER BLUE JAYS.
On a quiet Saturday morning inside a clubhouse Trent Thornton never thought he’d occupy, the 25-year-old righthander spoke softly, occasionally allowing a wry smile to slide across his face to belie the blunt nature of this discussion.
“I’ll be honest,” Thornton said. “At the very beginning of the season, when I made the team, I was seeing when we were playing Houston. I was just praying to God I’d get to face them.”
He envisioned his major league debut with the Astros, the organization which plucked him from North Carolina with a fifthround selection in the 2015 draft. Friends within the organization are aplenty. Most are up in the major leagues now, the consequence of the Astros’ accumulation of injuries.
Thornton’s here, too, just in another uniform. The 25-yearold righthander will start Sunday’s series finale against the Astros, the organization that traded him away for Aledmys Diaz last November.
“I’m almost more excited to pitch against them than I was for my (major league) debut,” Thornton said. “I’m going to have to kind of channel that. I’m not, like, anxious or anything, just fired up to pitch.”
In four minor league seasons, Thornton threw to a 4.23 ERA. His last act as an Astro was a stint in the Arizona Fall League, where he roomed with top prospect Forrest Whitley. Thornton struck out 20 in 15 ⅔ innings.
He got home from the Arizona Fall League on a Friday. Thornton woke up Saturday and was shipped to another country. Astros director of minor league operations Armando Velasco made the first phone call last Nov. 17. The transaction took care of one offseason roster decision Thornton didn’t think needed to be made.
“I was expecting to get put on the 40-man,” Thornton said. “It completely caught me off guard, but I was very grateful for the opportunity here. So it was kind of a blessing to get traded.”
The Astros executed the trade four days before the deadline to protect Rule 5 eligible players on the 40-man roster. Instead of Thornton, the Astros opted to add pitchers Rogelio Armenteros and Bryan Abreu. Catcher Garrett Stubbs was added, too, though that was nearly a foregone conclusion.
Stubbs is among Thornton’s many remaining pals in the Astros organization. The pitcher is “kind of bummed” Max Stassi won’t be in Houston, but did catch up with longtime minor league teammates Myles Straw, Jack Mayfield, Tony Kemp and Tyler White on Friday and Saturday.
Sunday, he will face them. “I’ve been chomping at the bit to face them,” said Thornton, who is 1-5 with a 4.78 ERA after 14 starts this season. “I’m definitely pretty fired up about it facing a bunch of guys that I came up playing with. And they’re a really good team. So I’ll be able to kind of show what I’m made of.”
Marisnick sidelined with left knee injury
Though an MRI exam on Jake Marisnick’s left knee revealed no structural damage, the speedy Astros center fielder will likely be out of the Astros starting lineup for three straight games, manager A.J. Hinch intimated on Saturday.
Marisnick exited Friday’s 15-2 win after running out a ground ball to conclude the fifth inning. He said Saturday the left knee was “nagging” for a few weeks leading into the game. It “flared up” after he slipped while planting his left foot to throw home on Cavan Biggio’s two-run double in the top half of the fifth.
“It was kind of a little misstep. Some swelling in there, but it feels good today,” Marisnick said Saturday. “Everybody in here is playing with bumps and bruises and things here and there. It’s just managing them and being smart with them. If it was up to me, I’d have kept playing last night.”
Myles Straw started in center field on Saturday in Marisnick’s absence.