Manny Machado on his walk-off grand slam against the Angels

Tonight Manny Machado became the first player to hit three homers in a game for the Orioles since ... Manny Machado. He became the first Oriole to hit a walk-off grand slam since Matt Wieters did it on April 18, 2013 against Tampa Bay.

With the Orioles down 5-1 after two innings and 7-5 heading to the last of the ninth, the homestand seemed to be getting off to a poor start. Opponent batters had hit five homers and it appeared likely that the Birds would lose to the Los Angeles Angels.

Except Machado and his teammates didn't lose.

Anthony Santander, just added today, led off the ninth with his first major league hit, a single to right off Yusmeiro Petit. With one out, pinch-hitter Seth Smith walked and Tim Beckham singled. That set the stage for Machado, who hit a two-run homer in the third and a solo shot in the fifth.

Machado drove an 0-1 slider from right-hander Keynan Middleton over the center-field wall and Camden Yards exploded after the Orioles' eighth walk-off win of 2017. They stunned the Angels 9-7 in front of 26,185 at Oriole Park.

"It is always good when you get to a situation where you can put your team on top," Machado said. "It was a good day. Our club kept fighting to the end. We're not going to stop fighting."

What did he think when he made contact?

"You know I got it." he said. "I was looking for a pitch and I made a good swing on it. Off the bat I knew it would go far. Always good to be in situation where you can give the team a W.

"Obviously, it's a big win for us. We came back from a deficit and we didn't stop fighting. A win like this hopefully gives us some momentum," he said after the Orioles improved to 36-23 at home and 60-62 on the year.

Maybe Machado just seems to feel comfortable in bases-loaded situations recently. He has hit grand slams now on Aug. 7, 14 and 18. That is two slams in the last four games and three in the last 11.

"I don't know. Everybody likes to hit with people on base. Those are RBIs you've got [to get], especially with less than two outs. You try to get one at least. That's my mentality going up there, which is at least get one guy in with less than two outs with a guy like that. Just put the ball up in the air. I've been fortunate to have a little more power and get a little stronger as the years go on, and those fly balls keep going a little bit."

It is Machado's second career three-homer game. He first did it Aug. 7, 2016, when he hit three homers in the first three innings in Chicago against the White Sox. This was his fourth career walk-off hit and third career walk-off homer. It is his third multi-homer game of the year and 12th of his career.

And it produced his first pie in the face of the year, courtesy of Adam Jones.

"We haven't done the pie all year. But we're glad it's back. The last time the pies were out there, we had some wins and we had nice win streaks and we got the team where it needed to go, which was a division championship. So let's keep doing it."

Machado's hot bat tonight produced his seventh career grand slam and third of the year. It was his second career seven-RBI game, with the other coming in the three-homer game last year at Chicago.

"You know, it's the same approach," he said of his at-bats over the course of the year. "Just trying to stay with it with every at bat, continue to do the same thing little by little, day by day, so that's been the biggest thing."

Machado is the 16th Oriole to have a three-homer game. There have been 22 in team history. Boog Powell and Eddie Murray each did so three times, while Machado and Chris Davis have two each.