Cabrera, Winn power Mariners

SEATTLE — Ron Villone left his bullpen role for a night and maintained the honor of the Seattle Mariners’ starting pitchers.

Jolbert Cabrera and Randy Winn did the same for the offense, which stepped out of character with — get this — home runs at Safeco Field to win a game.

Cabrera’s three-run homer with two outs in the sixth inning was the launching point of a 7-3 victory over the San Diego Padres, and Winn’s two-run homer in the seventh gave the Mariners a comfortable cushion at the finish.

Cabrera’s drive broke a 1-1 tie.

“We were going along getting a few singles and not making much noise,” Mariners manager Bob Melvin said. “But that made a lot of noise.”

Winn’s homer was the capper to a 3-for-5 night that continued his recent hitting surge. He is batting .333 in his last 11 games and raised his average to.263 for the season. Winn also threw a runner out at the plate in the fourth to keep the score tied 1-1.

Cabrera’s second home run this season came at a time when the Mariners’ offensive frustration seemed headed toward another breaking point despite a game that was tied 1-1.

The M’s already had gotten two runners thrown out, including Edgar Martinez at the plate just before Cabrera batted in the sixth.

Padres starter Ismael Valdez made a one-strike, no-balls mistake pitch that hung over the plate, and Cabrera pounded it into the left-field seats for a 4-1 Mariners lead.

“He’s gotten some big hits for us, but that home run was huge,” Melvin said.

The Padres pulled within a run in the seventh when Phil Nevin hit a two-run homer off reliever Julio Mateo — making it 4-3 — before Winn’s homer in the bottom of the inning gave the Mariners their late-inning breathing room.

“That’s something we haven’t had a whole lot of this season,” Melvin said.

Mateo, who struck out Nevin and Payton after Villone put two runners on with one out in the fifth, pitched 2 1/3 innings and became the winning pitcher when Cabrera homered.

Mateo, in his second season, became the first pitcher in Mariners history to start his career 5-0. He helped ease the pressure on a Mariners bullpen that has been stressed since Thursday’s 18-inning game at Texas.

“He made one bad pitch that cost him two runs,” Melvin said. “But we needed him to go more than one inning and he gave us everything he could and came out of it with the lead.”

Villone, making his first start since last season after working 28 games in relief this year for the Mariners, held the Padres to just four hits and a run.

It was an adventurous 4 1/3 innings in which half of Villone’s 84 pitches were balls.

Villone needed 30 pitches to escape two walks and keep the first inning scoreless, and he put the leadoff hitters on base in each of the next four innings.

Despite the opportunities, the Padres scored only once — in the fourth on Villone’s wild pitch with Khalil Greene on third base — and they needed a missed umpire’s call to get that.

Greene had reached third on Sean Burroughs’ fielder’s choice grounder to shortstop Rich Aurilia, whose throw to third baseman Scott Spiezio was in time for a high tag on the shoulder. Umpire Jim Joyce called Greene safe; TV replays showed he should have been out.

Villone found himself in serious trouble in the fourth when Jay Payton and Ryan Klesko hit back-to-back singles and Brian Buchanan walked to load the bases with nobody out.

Miguel Ojeda hit a fly to Winn in medium center as Payton tagged and tried to score from third. Payton reached home before Winn’s throw got to catcher Dan Wilson, but he slid around the plate without touching it. Wilson stepped back and tagged him to complete the double play, and Villone got Greene on a popup to keep it a 1-1 game.

Two innings later, Cabrera delivered the home run that put the Mariners ahead.