Wieters on birthday blast: "I think I'll remember this one"

ANAHEIM, Calif. - Orioles catcher Matt Wieters celebrated his 30th birthday with a game-winning homer in the top of the ninth inning tonight. His three-run shot with two outs gave the Orioles a dramatic 3-1 win over the Los Angeles Angels on a night they seemed headed for a 1-0 loss.

"I think I'll remember this one," Wieters said of the birthday blast.

"It was good to get a win. Gaus (Kevin Gausman) threw the ball great and at least we took him off the hook for a loss. He threw the ball too well to get a loss. It's a tough win, but a good win."

Wieters produced his fifth career go-ahead home run in the ninth inning or later. After Joe Smith retired the first two Orioles in the ninth while protecting a 1-0 lead, Chris Davis singled and Mark Trumbo walked. They passed the baton to the hottest hitter currently in the lineup.

Wieters drilled a 1-0 pitch out to left-center for his fourth homer of 2016.

This was the Orioles first two-out, ninth inning go-ahead home run for the Orioles when behind since Chris Dickerson hit one on May 31, 2013 versus Detroit.

"Some guys you are trying to hit the ball the other way and get the ball up," Wieters said. "I think he was trying to come in a little bit and one leaked out over the middle and I was able to hit the barrel with it. I was able to get a ball up and it was able to carry out.

"With our offense, we always feel we are in the game, especially when you are within a swing. I think everyone in our lineup, one through nine, can drive the ball out. We never feel like we're out of a game."

Over his past three games, Wieters is 8-for-13 with three doubles, two homers and five RBIs, raising his average from .233 to .283. Over his last seven games, Wieters is batting .481 (13-for-27). He is batting .372 in 12 games this month with three homers, eight RBIs and an OPS of 1.038.

He doesn't want to overanalyze why his bat got so hot, so fast.

"I feel good. I'm seeing the ball good and am able to find some barrels. We'll try to keep that as long as we can," he said simply.

The Orioles improved to 26-15 with their 10th win in the last 13 games. They were 0-14 when trailing after eight innings before their latest comeback win. They have a chance Sunday to sweep a three-game series at Anaheim for the first time since Aug. 27-29, 2010.

MORE CLUBHOUSE QUOTES

Manager Buck Showalter on the win: "Gaus was key to the game. You talk about a lot of other things, you get a guy who pitched as well as their guy does. I don't think I've seen a guy throw a higher percentage of breaking balls. I think he (Matt Shoemaker) threw like 67 out of 96 pitches for breaking balls, and he had a great game. We're fortunate Chris had a big at-bat, and Trumb didn't let him take him out of the zone, and Matty put a good swing on the ball. We had some good defensive plays too. Ryan (Flaherty)had a big out at the plate that shouldn't be forgotten."

Showalter on Wieters' hot bat right now: "I'm not going to overthink it. Matt's just got a track record and he's seeing the ball well. He's letting it travel, and I don't think he's getting too big. He's getting some counts in his favor, and just putting some good swings on the ball. It's something that he's been doing since about his sophomore year in high school, so this isn't something new."

Kevin Gausman on a team win, even if he doesn't get one on his record: "That is fine with me. I'll get at least one win this year, I'll guarantee you that. With this lineup, you try to keep the game as close as you can. Wanted to finish that seventh, but I had thrown a lot of pitches. It is all about the team win. These guys come up big when they need to and they like to make it dramatic."

Gausman on the O's not scoring much for him: "I don't know. Maybe I need to buy (the) spread, or something like that. You know it's any given night. They've scored runs for me before and I've given it up. Like in Minnesota. It's just one of those things. That's baseball I guess."