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Justin Thomas was used to pitching in Northwest Ohio, but not on a stage quite this big.
Thomas, a 2002 Clay High School graduate, threw two scoreless innings in relief and struck out four Mud Hens in the Indianapolis Indians' 7-3 loss on May 15 at Fifth Third Field.
“A lot of my family was there,” Thomas said. “My dad (Steve) and my two uncles, my wife (Theresa) and some of her family, and my mom (Jackie) and the majority of her family that lives in town were there. A lot of my high school buddies were there, too. It was pretty cool.”
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| Justin Thomas |
The Indians will be back in Toledo on Aug. 18-20, but frankly, Thomas would rather be somewhere else.
The 6-3, 215-pound left-hander has already pitched at the major-league level this season, and he hopes to be back there as soon as possible.
Thomas, 26, spent the last two seasons with Tacoma of the Pacific Coast League. Tacoma is the Triple-A affiliate of the Seattle Mariners, who decided to take Thomas off their 40-man roster last November.
“You go through the waiver wire and all of the other (major league) teams have a chance to pick you up,” Thomas said. “The Pirates decided to pick me up and put me on their 40-man roster. I was excited about it. I thought it would be a pretty good opportunity because I would be playing a lot closer to home than I have my whole career. It was a nice change of scenery and I thought I was given an opportunity here to get in the big leagues.”
Thomas made 53 appearances for Tacoma last season and was 2-4 with six saves and a 4.48 ERA, but he didn't get promoted to the Mariners in 2009. Thomas earned his first call-up to the majors on Sept. 1, 2008, and he made eight appearances with the Mariners and was 0-1 with a 6.75 ERA.
After being picked up by Pittsburgh, he was sent to pitch for the Pirates' Triple-A affiliate, Indianapolis, of the International League.
Thomas got called up to the Pirates on June 24 and he made his first appearance on June 25 in Oakland. He pitched one inning and allowed two runs, both earned, on three hits with one strikeout and no walks in a 14-4 loss to the A's.
“I was a little disappointed that I gave up some runs,” Thomas said. “I threw strikes and was getting back in the groove. I wish I would have a done little better as far as giving up runs.”
On June 26, Thomas pitched one inning and gave up a run-scoring double to lefty Daric Barton in the seventh inning of a 5-0 loss.
“After those first two games, I didn't pitch for six days,” Thomas said. “Then I had to come in in the fourth inning against the Phillies (on July 3) in a game where we were getting beat pretty good (a 12-4 loss in Pittsburgh).”
Thomas faced Ryan Howard, last year's NLCS MVP, twice during his three innings on the mound.
“I got Howard out on a foul pop-up to third and I struck him out,” said Thomas, who also gave up a two-run homer to Jimmy Rollins with two outs in the fifth inning.
“I had a 2-0 count and I threw a fastball down the middle,” Thomas said, “and Rollins hit it down the left field line.”
Thomas, who also gave up a solo home run to Ben Francisco with two outs in the sixth, made three appearances with the Pirates. He pitched five innings and had a 10.80 ERA after giving up six earned runs on seven hits, with one walk and two strikeouts in five innings of work.
Pittsburgh manager John Russell told Thomas he was being sent back to Indianapolis the day before the All-Star break.
“They told me they needed room for (starter) Zach Duke on the 25-man roster and I was going back to Triple-A,” Thomas said. “They wanted me to get back in the groove of pitching. They like that I threw strikes, but they said I needed to go back down and fine-tune some things and, hopefully, I would be back there soon if they needed me.”
Thomas called Russell, who is in his third season with the Pirates, “a good guy.”
“He likes to talk to the players,” Thomas said. “It's tough because it's a team that's struggling. I thought the team was staying positive, but it was tough because when I was up there, a lot of the games we lost were very close games.”
In 26 appearances with Indianapolis this season, Thomas is 3-0 with three saves and a 1.49 ERA in 36.1 innings. Last Saturday he pitched two-thirds of an inning and gave up an earned run on one hit, with one walk and one strikeout.
“Right now I'm a little rusty,” Thomas said. “I went to the big leagues and when I came back, I hadn't thrown in a game for 11 days. I was rusty in my first two appearances. I threw a bullpen session (Sunday) and got back into a mechanical rhythm. It's good when you get in a rhythm of pitching every other day or every third day - no less than once every three days.”
Thomas said he hopes a spot opens up for a left-handed reliever with the Pirates before the end of this season.
“I have thrown well in Triple-A,” he said. “I feel I can be in the running for a position (with the Pirates). There's no real time frame. If somebody gets injured, I could get recalled right away. If nobody gets traded and nothing happens along those lines, I could be here until Septemtber.
“I have to concentrate every day and get outs down here and keep my numbers where they're at and try to get recalled by the end of the year.”
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