Gausman on his slider and more, Britton on his outing from today's B game

SARASOTA, Fla. - Players use spring training to improve and Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman did some of that in a nearly-empty stadium this morning.

Pitching in a B game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at Ed Smith Stadium, Gausman faced a decent Bucs lineup, one that included Pedro Alvarez, Greg Polanco, Francisco Cervelli and former Oriole Steve Lombardozzi. The Orioles and Pirates tied 2-2 in a seven inning game.

He threw 50 pitches (32 strikes) over three innings allowing three hits and one run with one walk and two strikeouts. He allowed an RBI double in the third to Cervelli.

Gausman continues to work to develop his slider and said he made progress with the pitch.

"I threw some great ones today," he said. "Think I threw six and five were for strikes and I got some good feedback with two swings and misses on it. Just throwing it and trusting it, trusting the grip.

"Felt like I had command of every one of my pitches. That is the biggest thing right now, plus first time going three innings. Biggest thing I was concerned with was if I was going to be ready to start the game, being we never play games at 10 in the morning.

"Really you just try to lock in, knowing there are only about five people here. Definitely different than a major league game or even a spring training game. But that is when you get your work in."

I asked Gausman if he sees the potential for his slider to improve enough to become a putaway pitch for him.

"I eventually would love to have it as a putout pitch, but I think I am always going to be a fastball-changeup guy," Gausman said. "If there is a lefty in the box, I'm not going to throw many lefties backfoot sliders like some guys do that have wipeout sliders. But definitely to right-handed hitters I think it is eventually going to be a swing and miss pitch for me."

Earlier Gausman had outings of one and two innings so he bumped up another frame today. Where does he think he'll be with his innings and pitch count at the end of camp?

"Think the goal is get me up to five (innings) and maybe one with six," he said. "That is just from what I'm looking at for where we are. Think the next is four and maybe I throw two at four and then five and six. Really don't know for sure."

Meanwhile Zach Britton pitched a rare two-inning outing today. He asked the staff if he could pitch two frames to work on some things and get his pitch count up and today he threw 34 pitches.

His first inning ended due to pitch count with two outs and the bases loaded. His second inning was better when he retired the Pirates 1-2-3 in the fifth.

Britton talked about his day.

"It was good because I definitely felt a little strong out of the bullpen that first inning," Britton said. "Command was kind of erratic so it was good to sit down, kind of reset and then go back out. Had a better second inning.

"Nice to get the two innings in there and get the pitch count up. I felt great in the bullpen, but was overthrowing that first inning. Second inning gave me a chance to get my arm slot back and mix in pitches and work on location."

He gave up two singles with one walk and no strikeouts.

"Today I was trying to hit one spot. Wasn't really able to do that that well," Britton said. "But it was good to get out there for two innings."

Britton said he may not throw any more two-inning outings, now going back to one-inning appearances and then have at least one time of pitching on back-to-back days before camp ends.

Coming soon in my next entry, another Matt Wieters update and he looks forward to playing in his first exhibition game on Tuesday.