SEATTLE – Freddy Garcia pitched seven strong innings and John Olerud hit a solo home run, leading the Seattle Mariners to a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Sunday.

Olerud led off the seventh with a shot into the Detroit bullpen on a 1-0 pitch from Jeremy Bonderman (4-3). Raul Ibanez drove in two runs, and the Mariners won for only the third time in their last 14 games.

Garcia (2-3) was steady, though, holding the Tigers to four hits with seven strikeouts and four walks. He became the third Seattle starter with two wins and lowered his ERA to 2.71, second-best in the American League.

Seattle avoided a sweep of the three-game series after the Tigers won the first two.

Garcia has received only 14 runs of support in his nine starts. Three runs were plenty, though, considering that Seattle hitters had given Garcia only one or no runs in five of his starts.

For the second straight game, however, things got interesting when manager Bob Melvin turned to the bullpen.

J.J. Putz, the loser Saturday night when Seattle blew a 2-1 lead in the eighth, walked Carlos Guillen to start the eighth and left after Ivan Rodriguez lined a shot off the pitcher’s right foot.

Eddie Guardado took over, retiring Bobby Higginson and Craig Monroe before walking pinch-hitter Rondell White to load the bases. Guardado got Brandon Inge looking on a called third strike, a 91-mph fastball down the middle.

Guardado then pitched a perfect ninth, posting his sixth save in eight opportunities. It was the second time the closer worked two innings, with the Mariners winning 13-7 in New York on May 15 in extra innings.

This time, Seattle went ahead 2-1 in the sixth. Dave Hansen hit a sacrifice fly to score Ibanez, who hit a one-out double down the right-field line and went to third on Jolbert Cabrera’s high-chopping infield single.

The Mariners led 1-0 in the third after Ichiro Suzuki led off with a single, then reached third on Bret Boone’s one-out base hit. Ibanez singled to center on the next pitch to score Suzuki.

The Tigers tied it with one out in the fourth, when Higginson hit a ground-rule double over the wall in the right corner, and Monroe followed with an RBI single to left.

Notes: Olerud has two homers this season. … The Tigers ended a 24-game stretch against the AL West at 10-14. … Seattle DH Edgar Martinez got a rest, with Hansen filling in and going 1-for-4 with a sacrifice fly. … Cabrera’s sixth-inning single initially was ruled an error against Tigers 2B Omar Infante. … Mariners CF Randy Winn made a running basket catch in the sixth to take a hit from Rodriguez.

AP-ES-05-23-04 1849EDT