BALTIMORE - Matt Wieters watched Adam Jones come through with the game-winning hit Saturday afternoon, so the catcher figured it was his turn Sunday.
With Jones batting ahead of him and having reached base on an error, Wieters followed with a double off the scoreboard in right field that pushed Jones across the plate and lifted Baltimore past Philadelphia 5-4 on Sunday in front of 45,267 at Camden Yards.
The heroics gave the Orioles (34-26) their ninth consecutive extra-inning victory after two losses to start the season, and an interleague series win with four to come over the next two weeks. That's the longest streak of such wins in Orioles history.
After Jones got aboard with one out when Phillies third baseman Ty Wigginton botched his grounder, Wieters fouled off two pitches from reliever Joe Savery before hitting a ball to the opposite field, just out of Hunter Pence's reach off the out-of-town scoreboard in right. Jones was running on contact and scored easily while the ball bounced away from Pence toward right-center.
Then came the celebration - Wieters evaded most of his teammates as they raced toward the infield to give him the traditional rough-up that comes after a walk-off win.
"I knew if I was able to put one off the wall, Jonesy would be able to score with his speed from first," said Wieters, who went 3 for 4 with a walk.
Wieters praised the bullpen for doing what it does best in the American League. Troy Patton, Jim Johnson and Darren O'Day combined for four scoreless innings and lowered the relief corps' combined ERA to 2.37, the lowest in the AL.
O'Day (4-0) pitched a perfect 10th and earned win No. 14 for the bullpen, also tops in the league.
"The bullpen's doing a great job just keeping teams where they're at," Wieters said. "When you keep the other team from scoring, you've got a good chance of winning in extra innings. Eventually somebody's going to get a run. The bullpen has been great keeping us in games."
Baltimore's offense prevented the Phillies from giving starter Cliff Lee his first victory since Sept. 26, 2011. Lee had a 4-1 lead after two innings but couldn't hold it thanks in part to Orioles third baseman Steve Tolleson, who launched a three-run home run down the left-field line with two outs in the fourth.
It was Tolleson's third career homer and second of the season.
"It's a pretty special moment," said Tolleson, who showed some emotion as he crossed the plate. "That was a big spot in the game, getting us tied back up. I knew I got it, I was just hoping it stayed fair."
Tolleson added a sparkling play in the field when he dived toward shortstop and snared a Pence grounder, robbing him of a single with two outs in the sixth. But his long ball got the Orioles going at the plate, and it helped starter Jason Hammel avoid his second loss in three outings.
Hammel wasn't sharp and issued five walks in six innings, and the four earned runs raised his ERA to 3.22. Still, he's unbeaten at Camden Yards - Hammel is 3-0 with a 2.53 ERA.
"I didn't do anything, 'Tolley' did all the work," Hammel said.
The Phillies (29-33) had been held to two runs or fewer in five of Lee's nine starts, but they scored three in the second off Hammel. Pence lined a single up the middle with two outs and the bases loaded before Jim Thome added a RBI single to left. Philadelphia added another run in the fourth when Juan Pierre scored on a wild pitch.
But Orioles pitching held the Phils to two hits the rest of the way.
"We just kept grinding," said O's manager Buck Showalter. "If you keep up with what we're doing, it's because we have multiple people pitching well and we're able to move it around. We're in pretty good shape. We're not riding one or two guys. Hopefully that will continue."
Baltimore is off Monday before hosting Pittsburgh for three and then hitting the road to face Atlanta and the New York Mets for six days in a row.
Tolleson said Sunday's win could go a long way toward the Orioles' next long stretch.
"We went through a tough two-week span," Tolleson said. "We had a tough road trip. It wasn't really on the winning side of a lot of baseball. Any time we can get the momentum going back in our way, that's great.
"Jonesy did it big for us [Saturday] night, the homer got us in the game and Wieters shut it down for us. That's pretty special. You can't do anything better with a day off tomorrow."
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