SEATTLE -- It took them five tries, but the Detroit Tigers beat the Seattle Mariners.

But it took a nail-biter of a ninth inning to get it done.

Prince Fielder homered, Andy Dirks knocked in three runs and the Tigers held on for dear life in the bottom of the ninth Wednesday night in a 6-4 victory over the Mariners.

Jose Valverde walked the first two batters he faced in the ninth inning before holding on for his sixth save of the season. The Mariners had the bases loaded when Jesus Montero fouled out to right fielder Don Kelly to end the game.

Kelly leapt into the crowd to make the catch to end the game.

The Mariners had won the previous four meetings between the teams this season.

Justin Verlander (3-1) struggled a bit and needed 113 pitches to get through six innings. He allowed three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out six.

Verlander extended his streak of consecutive starts of at least six innings to 49 games, the longest in the majors since Mark Buehrle had 49 straight from May 2004 to July 2005.

Of the 113 pitches Verlander threw, 68 were for strikes … although it seems safe to say that both Verlander and Tigers manager Jim Leyland thought that number was a bit low.

for arguing balls and strikes with home-plate umpire Brian Knight, and Verlander exchanged words with Knight after the next pitch was called a ball.

The Tigers scored a run in the first inning on a leadoff double by Austin Jackson and a single by Dirks. The Tigers loaded the bases with two outs but could not add to their lead.

But the Tigers put a multi-run rally together in the second inning. Brennan Boesch and Gerald Laird, who was starting for an injured Alex Avila, led off the inning with back-to-back singles and moved to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Jackson.

Dirks laced a double to right field to knock them both in and give the Tigers a 3-0 lead. After Fielder drew a two-out walk, Delmon Young doubled home two runs to make it 5-0. It was the first extra-base hit for Young since April 21.

The Mariners rallied for three runs on four hits in the third inning to cut their deficit to 5-3 before Leyland and Verlander got into their debate with Knight.

The Tigers again loaded the bases in the fifth inning but were unable to push any runs across. Laird grounded out to shortstop to end the inning. Fielder gave the Tigers an insurance run when he led off the seventh inning with a home run to right field, his fifth home run of the season. That made it 6-3.

The Mariners cut the deficit back to two runs in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Brendan Ryan off Tigers reliever Phil Coke. Joaquin Benoit threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning.

Mariners starter Kevin Millwood (0-4) allowed five runs on eight hits and five walks in five innings pitched. He struck out three.