In the eighth inning with two runners on, Cory Rasmus’ childhood dream came true. Rasmus came on in relief for the Braves in his major league debut Wednesday against the Minnesota Twins.
Rasmus grew up as a Braves fan in Phenix City, Ala. He recalls watching games with his family since he was old enough to understand the game.
“We grew up going to my great-grandmother’s house everyday and she wouldn’t miss a Braves game,” Rasmus said. “I watched them everyday growing up. For me to be able to come up here and play is really special. I feel like she’s probably watching. I just hope I made her proud.”
Rasmus dealt with a little bit of everything during his first outing. He struck out three batters, but allowed two home runs in 1 2/3 innings of work. Aaron Hicks led off the ninth inning with a home run to right field on a 2-2 fastball.
“I thought (it) was a pretty good pitch, but he’s a pretty good hitter,” Rasmus said. “It’s the big leagues, those boys can hit. You can’t really do much about it. I thought I made a decent pitch and he hit it out. That happens.”
Still, Rasmus said the emotions were running high. So much so, that Rasmus couldn’t put all of his feelings into words.
“A whole lot of things at once,” Rasmus said of his emotions. “We all work for it our whole lives pretty much. The fact that today was the day I went out there and did something I’ve been dreaming of doing forever, it was a lot of fun.
“There was lot of excitement, a weight off my shoulders really. I finally made it out and pitched a little bit so now I’m moving forward.”
The Braves recalled Rasmus from Triple-A Gwinnett when they placed Eric O’Flaherty on the disabled list.
Rasmus was 1-1 with a 0.93 ERA in 19 appearances for Gwinnett. He was 7-for-7 in save opportunities with 21 strikeouts and nine walks in 19 1/3 innings, with a .123 opponents’ batting average.
“It was nice to see Cory (Rasmus) get his feet wet in the major leagues,” Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
With the Braves in a jam, Rasmus entered the game in relief of starter Paul Maholm. After getting Twins catcher Ryan Doumit to fly out, Rasmus retired infielder Chris Colabello for his first career strikeout.
But Rasmus almost lost the ball as catcher Evan Gattis tossed it into the stands. The Braves were able to retrieve it in exchange for another baseball, but Rasmus wasn’t worried.
“I don’t care about that,” Rasmus said. “As long as I get them out, it doesn’t matter what they do with the ball.”
Cory is one of four baseball-playing brothers and second to make the major leagues. His older brother Colby is the starting center fielder for the Toronto Blue Jays. His younger brother Cyle was in attendance.
“I’m going to call all of my brothers and tell them that the experience was crazy,” Rasmus said.
- Marq Burnett
