Baltimore ? The Chicago White Sox were poised to close out a comfortable victory — by their standards — when suddenly they found themselves in another thriller.

As is usually the case this season, Chicago held on.

Barely.

Juan Uribe’s triple keyed a seventh-inning rally, and Billy Koch and the White Sox survived a wild ninth to beat the Baltimore Orioles, 6-5, Wednesday night.

Down 6-4, the Orioles loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth against Koch.

After Javy Lopez hit a sacrifice fly, Jay Gibbons grounded into a forceout that moved the tying run to third. But Koch retired Luis Matos on a tapper to first for his fifth save.

Magglio Ordonez had three hits and emergency sub Miguel Olivo drove in two runs and scored one for the White Sox, who improved to 11-1 in one-run games — best in the majors.

“I wish it could be easier,” Ordonez said, “but I guess we have to get used to it.”

Rookie manager Ozzie Guillen wasn’t complaining. Not with his team in first place in the AL Central with a 17-10 record.

“It’s great,” he said. “They believe in themselves and they fight until the end. We have been playing solid baseball, doing the little things to win games.”

Gibbons and Lopez homered, and rookie Darnell McDonald had three hits for the Orioles, who have lost seven of 10. Baltimore got 12 hits and received five walks, but stranded 11 runners.

“Bases loaded and no outs in the ninth, we thought we might come away with more than one run, but we fell a little short,” Orioles manager Lee Mazzilli said. “It just didn’t happen.”

Olivo, who entered in the second inning for injured catcher Sandy Alomar, led off the seventh with a double off starter Sidney Ponson.

B.J. Ryan (1-1) then retired Willis Harris on a foul popup, but Uribe followed with liner into the gap in right-center to tie it at 4.

“It was just a bad pitch, left over the plate, and he did what you’re supposed to do with it,” Ryan said.

Twins 5, Mariners 1

Seattle — Carlos Silva took a shutout bid into the eighth inning and earned his fifth win of the season, leading Minnesota over Seattle. Jacque Jones hit a two-run homer for the Twins, coming off a 16-inning, 4-3 loss Tuesday in which they used eight pitchers. Minnesota stopped a three-game losing streak. Silva, 25, a right-hander acquired in the December trade that sent Eric Milton to Philadelphia, improved to 5-0.

Angels 6, Tigers 3

Anaheim, Calif. — Jose Guillen homered and drove in three runs, and Troy Glaus tied for the major league lead with his 10th home run to help Anaheim defeat Detroit for its fifth straight victory. Kelvim Escobar (2-1) improved to 5-0 in six starts against the Tigers in his career. The right-hander missed his previous turn last Friday because of a split nail on his middle finger and was pitching for the first time since April 24. Francisco Rodriguez followed Kevin Gregg out of the bullpen and struck out the side in the eighth.

Red Sox 9, Indians 5

Cleveland — Bill Mueller hit a tiebreaking three-run homer, David Ortiz homered twice, and Boston broke a five-game losing streak. Bronson Arroyo (1-1) gave up one hit and struck out three over two scoreless innings of relief for the win — snapping Cleveland’s four-game winning streak.

Rangers 6, Devil Rays 1

Arlington, Texas — Ryan Drese threw 61/3 shutout innings on short rest, and major league hits leader Michael Young had four more — including a solo homer — to help Texas beat Tampa Bay. Drese (2-0) , pitching four days after a 118-pitch outing, allowed only five singles — and two didn’t get out of the infield. Only one runner reached third base.

Late Tuesday game

Mariners 4, Twins 3 (16)

Seattle — Randy Winn scored on Scott Spiezio’s fielder’s choice with none out in the 16th inning to lift Seattle in the longest game in the major leagues this season.