PHILADELPHIA – It was 12 years ago that Tim Mayza was on the mound to end Lou Trivino’s college career.
Now, for the second straight summer, two pitchers who grew up miles away from each other in the same high school class will share a clubhouse, this time while chasing a National League pennant.
For two careers that have swerved toward and away from each other, the latest change unites them at their hometown team.
Trivino, a veteran of six big-league seasons and 325 innings, was scooped up after his release on Aug. 4 and selected to the big leagues last week. Mayza, the lefty with eight years and 311 innings, was plucked off waivers Sunday from Pittsburgh and will join the Phillies on Monday in Milwaukee.
They’re now united in a bullpen for the NL East leader, chasing a fourth straight postseason appearance.
Relief pitcher Tim Mayza walks off the field after a Sept. 4, 2024 game for the New York Yankees. Mayza was claimed off waivers by the Phillies on Sunday and added to the roster on Monday. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)
“It is pretty cool,” Trivino said Sunday night. “It’s crazy how it all works out, but I’m thankful that we’re able to stick it out a little bit.”
Trivino and Mayza have long been on parallel paths. They were born 106 days apart – Trivino in October 1991, Mayza in January 1992. Both were in the high school class of 2010, Mayza at Upper Perkiomen and Trivino at Upper Bucks Christian. They played against each other in the youth ranks, Mayza for Upper Perkiomen Legion and Trivino for Pennridge (the school district he would’ve attended had he gone the public route).
Both ended up in the PSAC – Mayza at Millersville, which he helped guide to a Division II College World Series in 2011, Trivino at Slippery Rock.
That’s how they met on May 9, 2013, an 8 a.m. start after a rainout the night before at Johnstown’s Point Stadium in the first round of the conference tournament.
“We had a rainout,” Trivino recalled. “It kept getting pushed back, kept getting pushed back, and then they finally canned it at 1 a.m., and then we had to go back to the hotel. I remember taking a five-hour energy and then not being able to sleep that night.”
Mayza tossed a gem that morning, a four-hit shutout with one walk and six strikeouts. He threw 114 pitches. Trivino went seven, allowing four earned runs. It had been a 1-0 game – the run scoring on a squeeze bunt in the second – until the bottom of the seventh inning.
By that time, they’d grown a little closer. They spent about a month one summer on the same staff for the Quakertown Blazers, then in the American Collegiate Baseball League. It would be their only time as teammates until their 30s.
The duel with Mayza was Trivino’s final game in college, the big righty taken in the 11th round of the 2013 draft by the Oakland Athletics. He’s one of four Slippery Rock players to ever make the big leagues, he and first baseman Matt Adams the only ones to do it since 1927.
Mayza had one more start, leading the Marauders to a win in the first round of the NCAA regionals, but they were ousted at that double-elimination stage. Mayza went in the 12th round to the Blue Jays that June and owns the distinction as the longest career of Millersville’s four big leaguers.
Bux-Mont roots aside, even for that game between D2 Pennsylvania schools to produce two players with a combined 11 years of MLB service time is remarkable.
“I’m grateful for it,” Trivino said. “I know he is. Sometimes there’s guys that I played with that have all the talent and ability, and I don’t know how it happens, but I just thank God that both him and I were able to kind of stick it out for a while.”
Their paths have intersected at various times in the majors. Trivino was productive for the Athletics from 2018-21, with 22 saves in his final full season there. He was dealt to the Yankees in 2022, where he had a 1.66 ERA in 25 appearances and four scoreless postseason outings. He missed the 2023 season with Tommy John surgery and tried to work back in 2024 but wasn’t recovered by the end of the season.
Trivino spent most of last year at the Yankees’ spring training complex in Tampa, which is where Mayza landed when Toronto released him in July. Mayza had grown into an excellent lefty with the Blue Jays: He had an 8-1 record and 3.14 ERA in 2022, then was one of the league’s best southpaws with a 1.52 ERA in 2023.
But he struggled massively in 2024 and was released after a 6.33 ERA in 50 games. The Yankees claimed him, sent him to Tampa for a quick refresh and reaped the benefits of a 4.00 ERA in 15 games to end the season. He posted three scoreless playoff outings for the American League pennant winners, closing out Game 4 of the World Series.
Tampa was a chance for Trivino and Mayza to reconnect at a relative low point for each.
“Every time we’d play against each other, we’d make sure to say hi and stuff like that,” Trivino said. “I think that last year was the most I’ve ever spent time with him. We were always playing against each other, we were always friendly with talk and stuff like that – not always super close, but it was nice to be able to talk to him last year and reminisce.”
Both players grew up as Phillies fans, their baseball careers developing in high school during the halcyon days of the last Phillies world title. Trivino’s appreciation of history has grown from playing in historic environments with the Dodgers and Yankees.
Now both get to chase a world title with their hometown club.
“The fact that I get to go home, see my family, see my parents, [my wife’s] parents, spend time with my wife and daughter, it’s pretty special,” Trivino said. “Coming to the field, coming to the games where I would come as a fan, it’s pretty cool. It’s something that you dream about.”