BALTIMORE (AP) -- The wait is over. For the first time in nearly three months, the Baltimore Orioles got a victory from their No. 5 starter.

Jose Mercedes pitched seven solid innings as the Orioles beat the Florida Marlins 5-3 Monday night.

Delino DeShields homered and drove in three runs, and Brady Anderson also homered and had three hits as the Orioles won their second straight from the Marlins to improve to 7-10 in interleague play.

Mercedes (4-4) allowed three runs and seven hits, walking none and striking out two to earn his first win as a starter since April 22. Since that time, Mercedes and Jason Johnson combined for 13 starts at the end of the rotation without a victory.

Mercedes laid that streak to rest despite developing tightness in his left side in the third inning.

"Everything was working," the right-hander said. "I was throwing strikes, and when I do that, the hitter doesn't have much time to think."

Mercedes threw 90 pitches, 65 for strikes. It was the first time in six starts this season that he did not walk a batter.

After allowing three runs in the third inning, Mercedes gave up only two singles over his final four innings while facing the minimum 12 batters.

"After the first couple of innings, he got in a good rhythm and all of his pitches were working," Florida's Preston Wilson said. "He was throwing all of his pitches for strikes."

DeShields' fifth homer, his second in two games, put Baltimore up 2-0 in the first inning. DeShields added a sacrifice fly in the third before Albert Belle singled in a run for a 4-3 lead.

Anderson hit his 12th homer leading off the eighth.

Buddy Groom and Mike Trombley worked the eighth and Mike Timlin got three outs for his 11th save and second in two games.

Wilson drove in two runs for Florida and Luis Castillo went 2-for-4. Castillo is 19-for-40 during a nine-game hitting streak.

But the Marlins' third straight loss dropped them to .500 (46-46).

"For all of us, it's still a learning process," Wilson said. "There are some things that we do that, after the game, we sit back and we know that we could have done better, different. But hindsight is always 20-20. The one thing this team does is they always give maximum effort."

DeShields opened the scoring by driving a 3-2 pitch from Reid Cornelius (3-3) over the right-field scoreboard after Mike Bordick reached on a fielder's choice.

Florida went up 3-2 in the third. Cliff Floyd blooped an RBI single to center and Wilson followed with a two-run double, the Marlins' fourth straight hit off Mercedes.

The Orioles took the lead for good in the third on a sacrifice fly by DeShields and a two-out RBI single by Belle.

Mercedes got some defensive help in the sixth. Mike Lowell was thrown out by B.J. Surhoff trying to stretch a single and rookie third baseman Ivanon Coffie made a diving stop to rob Derrek Lee of a hit.

Game notes
Marlins RHP Alex Fernandez is out for the season, the team announced Monday. He has been sidelined since May 19 with a strained rotator cuff and a strained elbow ligament. ... It was Anderson's first three-hit game since June 11. ... Orioles C Charles Johnson threw out Castillo trying to steal in the fifth, only the 17th time in 56 tries that the fleet second baseman has been caught. ... Bordick made his ninth error at shortstop, matching his total for last season.