At least on the ones I've played, if you hold the Thing flipper out and give a small nudge, you can pop it right onto the upraised lower left flipper. It's tougher than it looks though, and don't try it if The Power is on.
"The Power" is the magnets under the playfield on TAF.
Shoot the right ramp to battle the power
I would love it if someone would mod the ROM of TZ to play Fight the Power every time you went into the power playfield. Pumped!
I've never seen a drain that with a proper nudge or a better aimed shot couldn't have been avoided, even when the pros are playing I can see their errors sometimes. That being said, outlanes on TPA are way harder to deal with than the center flipper gap.