Thornton strikes out nine as Syracuse tops RailRiders 8-2

Zach Thornton gave Syracuse the kind of start that changes a series and sharpens a roster conversation. The Mets’ No. 13 prospect struck out a career-high nine over six scoreless innings Friday night at PNC Field, and Syracuse’s lineup answered an earlier shutout loss with an 8-2 win over the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders.

Syracuse moved to 22-20 while Scranton/Wilkes-Barre fell to 22-19, and the gap showed early. Yonny Hernández opened the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning, his second of the season and his second long ball this year against the RailRiders. Ben Rortvedt followed with an RBI triple, and Nick Morabito added an RBI single to make it 3-0 before the game settled into Thornton’s pace.

Thornton never let the RailRiders build anything. He allowed only three hits and one walk, working through six clean innings with the kind of command that has made his season line stand out: he entered the night 1-3 with a 3.16 ERA, 40 strikeouts in 37.0 innings and a 1.19 WHIP. The start fit the larger profile too. In a minor league career that began after the Mets took him in the fifth round in 2023, Thornton has now shown a 3.04 ERA across 41 appearances and 33 starts, with 172 strikeouts in 177.2 innings.

The offense gave that outing breathing room in chunks. Christian Pache launched a solo homer in the fourth for his fifth of the season, and Rortvedt added his second extra-base hit with a solo shot in the seventh. Syracuse then broke the game open with a seven-run inning that included an RBI single from Christian Arroyo, a walk to Eric Wagaman, and a throwing error by shortstop George Lombard Jr. that helped push the lead to 8-0.

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre avoided the shutout in the eighth when Oswaldo Cabrera lined a two-run single after Luke Jackson had worked a scoreless seventh. Mike Baumann stranded two runners, and A.J. Minter handled a clean ninth to finish it off. Dom Hamel took the loss for the RailRiders, charged with four runs, three earned, on seven hits, as Syracuse turned a tense mid-May series into a statement about who was forcing the next look from New York.