Seattle ? Horacio Ramirez skirted trouble early, long enough for Seattle’s offense to give him a few runs.

Ramirez pitched into the seventh inning, Jose Lopez homered for the second straight day, and the Seattle Mariners beat the Kansas City Royals, 7-4, Friday night for their

season-high fourth straight victory.

Ramirez gave up five hits and allowed seven baserunners in the first three innings. The Royals loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and failed to score.

Ramirez (2-1) allowed one run and seven hits in 61â3 innings. He struck out four and walked two.

Pinch-hitter Ross Gload hit a three-run homer off Seattle reliever Chris Reitsma in the eighth, but Adrian Beltre and Lopez had two-out RBI singles in the bottom half to extend the Mariners’ lead to 7-4.

J.J. Putz got five outs for the second straight day, picking up his third save in three chances.

Seattle scored three times in the seventh. Kenji Johjima led off with his second homer of the season. Lopez reached on an infield single and advanced to second on Alex Gordon’s throwing error.

Ichiro Suzuki was intentionally walked, ending the night for Kansas City starter Jorge De La Rosa. Ryan Braun entered and threw his second pitch to the backstop, allowing the runners to advance. Beltre then lined a two-run single past the drawn-in infield.

De La Rosa (2-2) gave up eight hits and a season-high five runs. He allowed no earned runs in eight innings in his previous start against the Twins.