Reluctant Wieters appreciates warm reception from Orioles

BALTIMORE - Matt Wieters isn't the type to seek attention, and so Monday at Camden Yards was in some ways a nightmare scenario for the veteran catcher.

Not that Wieters wasn't excited to see his former Orioles teammates in his first appearance here with the Nationals, but he had to be uncomfortable with all the attention that was heaped upon him because of it.

Wieters tried to keep his in-game chatter with Baltimore players to a minimum.

"I think they know from playing with me that once the game starts, I'd rather just see who wins," he said. "I'm not going to talk any stuff to them, but at the same time I won't shy away from it. But I really just want to play the game once the game starts."

Trouble is, the Orioles weren't about to let one of the favorites from the last eight years return to town without making a production of it.

Fans first cheered when Wieters' name was announced as part of the starting lineup. Batting eighth, he didn't come up to bat until the top of the third, but when he took his position behind the plate before the bottom of the first, the scoreboard played a video montage of highlights during his time wearing orange and black and the crowd again roared with approval.

Gio Gonzalez, on the mound warming up, stepped to the side for a moment to give Wieters an opportunity to acknowledge the fans, but the catcher motioned for his pitcher to resume his preparation.

Wieters seemed to have planned all along to save his acknowledgement for his first at-bat. When that moment finally came, with a full standing ovation from the crowd of 23,525, he finally offered up a wave, taking a cue from the night in 2015 when Nick Markakis first returned to Baltimore after signing with the Braves.

"I had a little bit of a precursor when Nick came back," Wieters said. "I knew O's fans aren't going to stop until you give them a little bit of an acknowledgement. So I just wanted to say thank you for my time here and get on with the at-bat, get on with the game."

Wieters didn't have a particularly great night on the field for most of the game, going 0-for-3 until the top of the ninth, when he belted an RBI double to right-center off Brad Brach that nearly helped the Nationals storm back to win.

His lasting memory of this game, though, will be the reception he received. Even if it made him uncomfortable.

"It was great," he said. "It was a good crowd, as always, here. I was very appreciative. I wish we could've been on the winning side of the scoreboard, but I appreciate the hand. And the ovation, however good it was, was not going to change how good of a time I (had) being here."