So was Matt Wieters thinking about hitting a game-winning homer when he led off the 10th inning of Game 2 tonight?
"You know, you don't try to hit one out. It's tough to do when you do that. Just trying to hit something hard, especially in an extra-inning game," he said.
Wieters did hit a walk-off homer, connecting off Stolmy Pimentel to give the Orioles a 6-5 win and a sweep of the doubleheader. It was a long day, but one that leaves them with a 14-12 record.
"It was long for me and I only played half of it," Wieters said. "It was nice to get a win and get a team win where we had to battle back and score some runs. Now have to get to Minnesota sometime so we can get ready to play tomorrow. Don't think guys will be playing cards on the plane. A lot of guys will be sleeping on the plane."
Wieters' homer was the O's first walk-off homer since Chris Dickerson hit one against Detroit in the ninth inning on May 31, 2013.
Wieters was also asked about the first inning, when Chris Tillman walked three and threw 49 pitches.
"They kept fouling off pitches. He actually threw the ball OK," Wieters said. "He was up in the zone in the first, which led to some foul balls. He actually threw the ball real well after the first."
It was a triumphant return to the team for Manny Machado, who started at third base, going 0-for-5 in the nightcap.
"It was awesome," Machado said. "First day back, walk-off win. Great game, great pitching staff. Great two games. Couldn't be happier.
"I felt great. It felt great to be out there with the team and to finally be out there putting on that Orioles uniform was the greatest moment. Day just got better with that walk-off win."
Machado got several huge ovations even before the game started.
"It was awesome and I had to take all of it in," he said. "The fans who went out there and cheered for me once I went out there and ran a couple sprints. Got a standing O when I came up to the plate. Want to give thanks to all the fans for coming and supporting us. Hopefully it's going to be a good year for us."
Some other clubhouse quotes after the Game 2 win:
Tillman on his outing and the 49-pitch first inning:
"It was a struggle from the get-go. I was fighting myself the whole time to find it. For me, it was (a lack of) fastball command tonight. Think I have a good idea of what it is. Have to put the work in to get better for next time.
"I didn't notice it (any problem with his arm throwing all those pitches). I've been there before. After that first inning, you know it was tough, but I still had a job to do. I couldn't think about that."
Darren O'Day on the bullpen being used a lot over two games:
"We got a bunch of studs down there. We've been asked to do that before and we'll be asked to do that again. When they tell us to pitch, we pitch and luckily today we held them long enough for Matty to come through there at the end."
J.J. Hardy on Wieters' game-winning homer:
"Yeah, that was clutch. We were all getting pretty tired at that point. Kept looking up at the clock and thinking about what time we were going to get into Minnesota. So it was nice to see Wiety do that."
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