masn-baseballs-orioles.jpgMatt Wieters finally got to bat in his first All-Star Game, grounding to second baseman Brandon Phillips on the first pitch thrown by Atlanta’s Jonny Venters while leading off the top of the eighth inning.

Wieters, batting from the right side, swung at a 97 mph fastball. No sense wasting any time.

Wieters made the American League team largely on his defense, but he was charged with his first passed ball of 2011 in the bottom of the seventh after Seattle’s Brandon League crossed him up.

The…Matt Wieters finally got to bat in his first All-Star Game, grounding to second baseman Brandon Phillips on the first pitch thrown by Atlanta’s Jonny Venters while leading off the top of the eighth inning.

Wieters, batting from the right side, swung at a 97 mph fastball. No sense wasting any time.

Wieters made the American League team largely on his defense, but he was charged with his first passed ball of 2011 in the bottom of the seventh after Seattle’s Brandon League crossed him up.

The ball was tailing inside to San Francisco’s Pablo Sandoval and glanced off Wieters’ mitt before rolling away from him.

Houston’s Hunter Pence advanced two bases and later scored on Sandoval’s ground-rule double.

The passed ball won’t count in Wieters’ season statistics.