Matt Wieters on night in Bowie and returning soon to the Orioles

BOWIE, Md. - Orioles catcher Matt Wieters went 2-for-4 with a pair of singles and threw out a runner trying to steal tonight in his first rehab game for Double-A Bowie as the Baysox beat Erie 4-2.

Wieters said the plan calls for him to work out in Baltimore tomorrow and not play here. He'll return to catch for Bowie on Thursday and Saturday, and he could then join another affiliate for a home game or two after Bowie's homestand ends Sunday.

One scenario would see him play Monday at Single-A Frederick and Wednesday at Triple-A Norfolk, but nothing is 100 percent set just yet.

Wieters feels these rehab games will provide enough innings for him to return to the Orioles soon. He is eligible to come off the 60-day disabled list on June 4, and he already had caught 15-20 games at extended spring training in Florida.

"I think so," he said when asked about returning as soon as June 4. "I feel good right now. We did a lot of work and caught a lot of games down in Florida. It was nice to get out there under the lights, get a little bit of a heartbeat going and play some games with a little bit more meaning. The body and arm feels good.

"Felt good getting behind the plate and catching. Nice to get a win. Nice to catch a game for about the first time in a year. Pretty happy with how the arm felt and pretty happy with how the night went."

Wieters threw out a runner trying to steal in the top of the eighth when he got Erie second baseman Curt Powell. His throw one-hopped shortstop Ozzie Martinez, who made a nice play on the back end. Without the benefit of a replay, it was hard to tell if the throw was in time or if the runner overslid the bag as some press box observers felt. It looked in time. And Wieters came close to picking a runner off second base in the ninth. Either way, it was officially a caught stealing.

"At this point the arm feels really good. Made a lot of throws in Florida, so felt confident going into it and the ball was coming out good tonight," Wieters said. "Nice pick by my shortstop down there. But it came out good and felt like I had a quick release on it and it got there in enough time."

Wieters said he knocked off some rust in Florida. Now these rehab games are more about keeping his arm healthy and fine tuning a few things.

"This is just a matter of getting back into speed of the game type stuff," he said. "It is a level or two up so get used to a little different speed of the game and different pitching.

"The adjustment too is playing under the lights for the first time in almost a year. There is an adjustment in how you see the ball. And Double-A guys, they have offspeed stuff and stuff they can use to try and get you out with."

Wieters flied out to shallow center in the first, singled off the glove of Powell at second base in the fourth, grounded out in the sixth and singled off Powell's glove again in the eighth. He then scored ahead of Brandon Snyder's two-run homer that broke a 2-2 tie.

When he returns to the Orioles, he could continue on a catch-every-other-day schedule.

"Probably (will) for a while," he said. "Right now, that day off in between is big for me. We'll just let the arm see. I feel like I could catch in between if needed, but Caleb (Joseph) is doing such a great job that we can bring it along slowly and make sure I get that rest day in between. That has been good for me so far. And catching three days a week up there is better than catching none for me."

If Wieters does return sometime next week, he will be back in the majors less than a year from when he had Tommy John surgery, which was on June 17. Would that be a satisfactory end result?

"Yeah, from what we've gone through. Opening day was just a goal we had going into it and through all the rehab," Wieters said. "But anything under a year, we consider a success. More importantly wanted to make sure it was strong and I had every confidence to make every throw I needed to make."

While Wieters is now not scheduled to be here tomorrow night, Bud Norris is. The Orioles' right-hander is scheduled to start Wednesday night for Bowie and pitch six or seven innings, throwing about 90-95 pitches.