Beyond the Box Score: Yankees 9, IronBirds 5

It was a homecoming of sorts for Kevin Gausman last night at Ripken Stadium as he took the mound for the IronBirds. Gausman, who has made five appearances for the Baltimore Orioles this year, appeared in an IronBirds uniform for the second time in his career. Drafted out of LSU, he made his professional debut in Aberdeen before quickly climbing through the minor league ranks and making his major league debut in May, 2013.

"It was a little weird, a little different," Gausman said of being back in Aberdeen. "A lot of new faces, I don't really know any of these guys except for one or two of them. A lot of these guys just got drafted, a lot of them asked me questions, picked my brain these last couple days. I think overall it was kind of cool to be around these guys. I've been in their same shoes. I know what's it's like to be psyched to just get drafted and come here. You live with a host family and a lot of things are thrown at you at once. Just kind of talking to these younger guys, guys who just got drafted, was good. It was kind of crazy because I'm not very older than them at all and I feel like it's been forever since I got drafted and was playing here."

Gausman's velocity caught the eye of the fans in the stands, as his fastball was being consistently being clocked at 97-98 miles per hour and topped off at 99 miles per hour on the stadium radar gun.

"I felt good. I was just getting my work in, try to establish fastball command. More than anything that's what I did," Gausman said.

Last appearing in a game against the Tampa Bay Rays on June 27th, Gausman said that the only thing he was trying to work during his two innings was his fastball command.

"Probably the biggest thing was throwing fastballs in like I've been doing pretty successfully this year," Gausman said. "That was the only thing that I really wanted to work on. I threw one slider today. I only threw three or four changeups, which is good. I think you try to develop your fastball early, it kind of opens up things for you later in the game. I felt pretty good about it."

After Gausman departed, the IronBirds took a 5-1 lead in the fifth inning, only to see it evaporate in the top of the sixth courtesy of a six-run inning for the Staten Island Yankees. The Yankees would hold on and add some insurance runs later to earn the victory over the IronBirds, 9-5.

For Kevin Gausmnan, he doesn't know when he'll be back at the big-league level, but he'll keep working wherever he is.

"It's kind of up in the air what's going to happen the next couple days," Gausman said. "I'll just play it by ear."

 

(Photo by Bob and Cory Rinker)