Editor's Note: This story is also available in Spanish.

In 2012, when Orioles manager Buck Showalter called for pitching help from Triple-A -- and he made that call many times in a summer full of rotation tweaks that season -- Norfolk manager Ron Johnson always sent the requested player. But Johnson always added, "Don't forget about Miggy."

He meant Miguel Gonzalez, a skinny, journeyman right-hander from Guadalajara, Mexico. There was something about Gonzalez that Johnson liked.

"Miggy didn't even make our [Triple-A] club out of spring training, but we needed a guy from Double-A, just a body," Johnson says. "I didn't know anything about him when he showed up. The first three times I used him, I put him in with the bases loaded, nobody out! I must have been a horrible manager. He must have thought, 'He's doing this to me on purpose.' I had no choice; I had no one else.

"First time, he carves up 'em up. I thought, 'Whoa.' Second time, he carves 'em up. Third time -- I'm thinking, 'He can't do this again' -- he carves 'em up again. Buck called. I told him, 'You have to get a look at this guy.' So they called him up, and the rest is history. This is a Cinderella story to the max."

Gonzalez has pitched himself into the autograph zone wherever he plays. (And whatever he signs.) Rob Tringali for ESPN

When he finally reached the majors two seasons ago, Gonzalez, then a 28-year-old rookie, went 9-4 with a 3.25 ERA and helped the Orioles make the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. He also became something of a Yankee killer. Including a seven-inning gem in the American League Division Series, Gonzalez pitched 20 2/3 innings against the Yankees in 2012, allowing 15 hits, walking one and striking out 25.

"I had no idea who he was when he got to us," Orioles center fielder Adam Jones said. "I asked, 'Who in the hell is this guy?'"

Last season, Gonzalez went 11-8 with another ERA under 4.00 (3.78). And as this regular season draws to a close, his 3.33 ERA would have him in the American League's top 15 if he'd accumulated enough innings to qualify. Before Sunday's start in Toronto, he's pitched 154 innings. Partly because he was one of the few Orioles starters with contract options that would allow it, he bounced back and forth between the majors and Triple-A this year; and he spent a brief time in the disabled list in early June with a strained oblique. Gonzalez is 9-9; but since early July, he's 7-4 with a 2.34 ERA. In each of his past seven starts, he hasn't given up more than three earned runs. His three losses in that stretch were by 2-1, 3-2 and 3-2 scores.

He's 30 years old now and pitching as he always dreamed he would. He's overcome two serious injuries, including Tommy John surgery, and now he can laugh at the way Johnson used him in those first three appearances in Norfolk.

"Oh, he threw me under the bus," Gonzalez said, smiling. "But I didn't care. I'd never been to Triple-A. I was happy to be there. I think he wanted to see what I could do in tough situations."

It's a good life for the Gonzalez family ... finally. It just took a long time to get there. Rob Tringali for ESPN

Gonzalez is accustomed to those. When he was 4 years old, his father, hoping to get a better education for his children, moved the family from Guadalajara to the San Fernando Valley in Southern California. It was there that he started following the Dodgers; his favorite pitcher became Ismael Valdes, a right-hander from Mexico. And it was there that Gonzalez's father told him stories of the greatest Mexican pitcher, Fernando Valenzuela.

Gonzalez signed with the Angels in 2005; and in winter ball in Mexico (Águilas de Mexicali) that year, he pitched on the same team as Valdes and Valenzuela.

"That was a big thrill for me," Gonzalez said. "Fernando was pitching in the big leagues before I was born, and there I was, pitching next to him in winter ball. And he could still pitch, and he could still hit. His advice to me was, 'Just be yourself. That will be good enough.'"

Gonzalez pitched well for three years in the Angels system, but a knee injury cost him most of the 2008 season. The next year, he went to the Red Sox in the Rule 5 draft, but missed all of 2009 after Tommy John surgery. After that, he pitched without success for two years in the Red Sox system, then was released in November 2011.

"At that point, I wondered, 'What am I going to do now?'" Gonzalez said. "I was pitching well in winter ball in Mexico, and I considered pitching the following summer in the Mexican League. You can make a good living that way. I felt I could still pitch. I thought the injuries actually helped me. They got me in the gym every day trying to make myself better, and doing everything I could to get back. My velocity went up. I became more consistent. I knew I could pitch in the major leagues."

Gonzalez, center, figures prominently in the Orioles' playoff plans. Rob Tringali for ESPN

That chance finally came with the Orioles in 2012. Baltimore wasn't the only team interested in signing him that spring, but he chose the Orioles, he said, partly because of his connection with the team's other Mexican players at the time, including Luis Ayala. Once the big league opportunity presented itself, Gonzalez grabbed it, and hasn't let it go.

"Sometimes, when I'm out on the mound, I think, 'Really? Did this really happen? I'm still around here? I'm still with this team?'" he said. "But I know I have to keep putting up numbers."

Especially lately, the numbers he keeps putting up have been impressive. As the Orioles ran away from the rest of the AL East in August and September, Gonzalez has pitched -- well, almost like an ace. His second-half surge included his first career shutout, a 6-0 complete-game win over the Reds on Sept. 3. And he followed that game up with 6 1/3 scoreless innings against the Red Sox in a 4-0 Baltimore victory.

Going forward, he'll be in the Orioles' playoff rotation. Showalter announced this week that he'll go with four starters in the division round, with Gonzalez likely to pitch either Game 2 or 3.

On Thursday, Gonzalez watched from the bench as Baltimore met the Yankees in Derek Jeter's final home game. It was a special moment for Gonzalez.

"He is such a professional," Gonzalez said. "After my first win in the big leagues, Derek came up to me during batting practice [the next day] and congratulated me. That was a thrill. He's been in the big leagues 20 years, and he took the time to come over and talk to me."

That's what happens when you're a Cinderella story, to the max.

"I don't know where he came from, or how he does it," Jones says. "I still don't know. I'm just glad he's with us."