BALTIMORE - Matt Wieters hit his first major-league home run, Aubrey Huff hit a tiebreaking shot in the seventh inning and the Baltimore Orioles withstood Gary Sheffield's 507th career homer in a 6-4 victory over the New York Mets last night.
Nick Markakis had a career-high tying four hits and scored twice for the Orioles, who blew leads of 1-0 and 4-2 before pulling away for the final time in the seventh.
With one out, Markakis singled off Pedro Feliciano (2-2) and Huff hit a 2-2 pitch over the right-field wall, his first homer in 17 games since May 26.
Jim Johnson (3-3) worked two innings and George Sherrill got three outs for his 13th save.
Wieters, the fifth overall pick in the 2007 amateur draft, did not have a homer or an RBI in his first 13 games after being recalled from triple-A Norfolk on May 29. With one swing of the bat in the second inning, the highly touted rookie catcher ended both droughts.
Wieters' two-run shot, which put the Orioles ahead, 3-1, received a standing ovation from many in the crowd of 31,906. The fans kept cheering until Wieters finally acknowledged the reception with a brief curtain call.
Sheffield, on the other hand, is an old hand at hitting homers. His latest, a solo shot off Brian Bass, moved him within four of Mel Ott for 23d on the career list.
Orioles starter Koji Uehara was lifted with Baltimore ahead, 4-2, entering the sixth. The bullpen promptly blew the lead, keeping the Japanese rookie winless in nine starts since April 13.
New York 010 102 000 – 4 12 0
Baltimore 120 010 20x – 6 11 0
New York AB R H BI Avg. Baltimore AB R H BI Avg.
Cora ss 4 0 1 1 .276 B.Roberts 2b 5 0 0 0 .287
F.Martinez lf 3 0 1 0 .207 Ad.Jones cf 4 1 0 0 .316
a-Tatis ph-lf 2 0 1 0 .263 Markakis rf 4 2 4 0 .298
Beltran cf 5 0 1 0 .333 A.Huff 1b 3 1 2 3 .266
D.Wright 3b 5 0 0 0 .357 Mora 3b 4 0 2 1 .272
Church rf 4 1 2 0 .274 Scott dh 4 0 0 0 .307
Sheffield dh 4 2 2 1 .276 Reimold lf 3 1 1 0 .283
Dan.Murphy 1b 4 1 3 1 .246 Wieters c 3 1 1 2 .240
Schneider c 3 0 1 1 .244 Andino ss 4 0 1 0 .250
