SEATTLE (AP) – Melvin Mora drove in three runs, two on a first-inning home run, and the Baltimore Orioles held off the Seattle Mariners 5-3 Saturday night.

Orioles starter Rodrigo Lopez (14-9), who had lost three of his previous four starts, beat Seattle for the third time in three meetings this season. He went 7 1-3 innings, allowing seven hits and two runs, and improved to 7-0 with a 1.92 ERA in eight starts against AL West teams this season.

Richie Sexson hit a three-run homer in the eighth off Chris Ray, his 34th. But B.J. Ryan got the final four outs for his 30th save in 35 opportunities.

Ichiro Suzuki had four of the Mariners’ eight hits, raising his batting average to .302. Three of the hits were infield singles.

Mariners starter Jeff Harris (2-3), who went just three innings in his previous start Monday against the Angels, allowed two runs after the first two batters.

Brian Roberts opened with a single to right before Mora drove a 2-1 pitch over the left-field scoreboard.

The Orioles scored two more in the third. Roberts hit a ground-rule double with one out and moved to third when Harris’ pickoff throw went into center field. Mora followed with a single just inside the third-base bag.

Javy Lopez added an RBI single later in the inning, but Baltimore failed to add to its lead when Walter Young singled to left – his first major league hit – but Jay Gibbons was tagged out at the plate on a nice one-hop throw from Raul Ibanez to Yorvit Torrealba.

The Mariners threatened in the fourth after back-to-back one-out singles by Sexson and Adrian Beltre. But Lopez induced Greg Dobbs to bounce to shortstop Miguel Tejada, who turned the double play.

Yuniesky Betancourt tripled with two outs in the seventh, but pinch-hitter Dave Hansen hit a hard line drive to center.

The Mariners finally scored in the eighth. Suzuki opened with a single to short, and an error by second baseman Roberts put runners on first and second. The runners moved up on a groundout and Lopez was replaced by Ray, whose first pitch was hit by Sexson into the right-center field seats.

The Orioles added a run in the ninth on Tejada’s two-out RBI double off Rafael Soriano.

Notes: Mariners manager Mike Hargrove received a quick ejection in the first inning for protesting a call at second base. Suzuki was called out by umpire Mike Winters on a steal attempt. Hargrove trotted out to argue and was tossed less than a minute later. It was just his second ejection this season. … Entering the game, the Mariners had made just one error in their previous 14 games. Baltimore, on the other hand, had made at least one error in 12 of its previous 19 games. Each team committed one error Saturday. … Torrealba was 0-for-3, extending his hitless streak to 19 at-bats.

AP-ES-09-11-05 0012EDT