Arlington, Texas ? Rafael Palmeiro has waited patiently for a breakout game.

Palmeiro picked a good time to come through as he homered and drove in three runs to lead the Texas Rangers to their season-high seventh straight win Friday night, 5-3, over the Baltimore Orioles.

“I’ve probably been pressing a little bit,” Palmeiro said. “But I feel good now and I’m seeing the ball well.”

Palmeiro had a two-run blast in the first and an RBI single in the fifth that put Texas ahead 4-3. It was Palmeiro’s first homer since hitting his 500th May 11, a span of 27 at-bats.

“Raffy picked up the slack for us,” Texas manager Buck Showalter said. “He had the big hits for us.”

He just missed another home run on his single in the fifth. The ball hit the top of the wall in right field, but Showalter came out to argue contending it should have been ruled a homer.

After a brief meeting, the umpires determined the ball hit just below the yellow line.

“I missed it by two inches.” Palmeiro said.

Ismael Valdes (4-2) picked up his second consecutive win since coming off the disabled list. He allowed three runs and 10 hits, all singles, in six innings.

Texas' Ismael Valdes delivers against Baltimore. Valdes logged his second consecutive victory since coming off the disabled list in the Rangers' 5-3 triumph Friday night in Arlington, Texas.

“It wasn’t my best game,” Valdes said. “But I battled and made the right adjustments to keep my team in the game.”

Ugueth Urbina pitched the ninth for his 16th save in 17 chances, his fourth consecutive game with a save. Urbina struck out Melvin Mora with runners on second and third to end it.

He has saved six games during Texas’ winning streak.

“It will reach a point where we’ll have to give (Urbina) a day off,” Showalter said. “I’ll have to bite the bullet because Urbina’s won’t want it.”

The Rangers are on their longest winning streak since winning eight straight June 19-25 last season.

Texas trailed 3-2 entering the fifth. But Michael Young tied the score when he led off with a homer off Pat Hentgen. Young, who came into the game third in AL in batting average, had three hits to raise his average to .343.

After Young’s fourth homer, Everett and Blalock had consecutive singles before Palmeiro gave the Rangers the lead for good.

Hentgen (1-1) allowed four runs and 10 hits in six innings. He struck out five and walked two while throwing a season-high 116 pitches.

“I made some mistakes, there’s no doubt about it,” said Hentgen, who picked up his first win last Sunday since undergoing elbow surgery in 2001. “You can’t leave pitches out over the fat part of the plate to these guys.”

Texas, who came into the game leading the majors in home runs, hit two more and has 77 on the season.

Mariners 5, Twins 2

Seattle — Mark McLemore homered, Jamie Moyer got his seventh victory, and Mike Cameron made two highlight-reel defensive plays as Seattle beat Minnesota. Cameron stole a home run from Torii Hunter to end the first and added an unassisted double play in the seventh, catching a fly by Cristian Guzman and stepping on second base to get Jacque Jones.

McLemore, starting at third base for the injured Jeff Cirillo, hit his second home run of the season, giving the Mariners a 4-1 lead in the second.

Moyer (7-2), meanwhile, lacked his usual efficiency but kept the patient Minnesota hitters in check for five innings. He allowed two runs and four hits to move into a tie for the major league lead in wins.

It was a matchup of AL division leaders but there wasn’t much drama after the Mariners scored three unearned runs in the first.

Devil Rays 3, Angels 1

Anaheim, Calif. — Jeremi Gonzalez earned his first major league victory in nearly five years, and rookie Rocco Baldelli went 4-for-5 with a home run as Tampa Bay beat Anaheim. Gonzalez (1-1) held the defending World Series champions hitless the first time through the order before allowing a two-out homer in the third inning by Adam Kennedy. Their only other hit off Gonzalez was a two-out single in the fourth by Scott Spiezio.

Tigers 3, White Sox 2

Chicago — Mike Maroth won for the first time in 10 decisions this season, pitching seven strong innings in Detroit’s victory over Chicago. Maroth (1-9) allowed three hits, two walks and struck out three to snap an 11-game losing streak. He won for the first time since Sept. 16, 2002, against Kansas City.

Dmitri Young hit an RBI double off Kelly Wunsch to score Ramon Santiago with the go-ahead run in the eighth inning.

Red Sox 9, Indians 2

Boston — Derek Lowe pitched a four-hitter for his first complete game of the season, and Nomar Garciaparra extended his hitting streak to 23 games as Boston beat Cleveland. Lowe (4-3) received all the support he needed in a six-run first inning. He allowed just four balls to leave the infield and recorded 17 outs on grounders.

Blue Jays 6, Yankees 2

New York — Kelvim Escobar outpitched Mike Mussina, and Toronto sent New York to yet another home loss. New York has lost five in a row at Yankee Stadium, its longest skid since the middle of the 2000 season. The Yankees’ ninth defeat in 10 home games dropped them out of the AL East lead for the first time this year. They trail Boston by a half-game. The game began about a half-hour late because of rain, and the crowd of 34,134 had little to cheer about after Jason Giambi’s RBI double in the first.