Sele in Control Against Tigers

ARLINGTON, Texas —  Aaron Sele’s six spring-training starts gave little indication he would have a strong first start. His record in April should have.

After a 6.46 earned-run average in spring training, Sele continued his trend of pitching well in April with seven shutout innings Tuesday night as the Texas Rangers defeated the Detroit Tigers, 6-0.

Sele (1-0) gave up six hits, struck out six and walked one.

The Ranger starter got into trouble just once, when he escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth by getting Bill Haselman to ground into an inning-ending double play. He retired the last nine batters he faced.

“It’s a little different in the spring than in the regular season,” Sele said.

“In the spring, you work on certain things that might not be the right thing to do at that time. But when you’re in the regular season with a runner on second base and a two-run lead, you’re going to go after the hitter with what you think will work.”

That philosophy has certainly worked for him.

Sele’s career record is 58-44, including 14-3 in April, when his ERA is more than a full run lower. Last April he was 5-0, including a 20-4 victory over the Chicago White Sox in his first start as a Ranger.

“It really was kind of similar,” Sele said. “Last year I came out and shook everyone’s hands with a one- or two-run lead and the offense exploded. This year the same thing happened. Hopefully I can do it again next year.”

Texas led, 2-0, when Sele came out after pitching a perfect seventh inning. The Rangers then scored four runs with two outs off Tiger relievers C.J. Nitkowski and Masao Kida.

Juan Gonzalez singled, stole second and reached third on a passed ball. Rafael Palmeiro walked off Nitkowski, then Gonzalez scored when Kida’s first pitch bounced eight feet in front of the plate and went to the backstop. Roberto Kelly followed with his first homer of the season, a two-run shot to left field. Luis Alicea added an RBI single for the final run.

“We were in it until the wheels came off in bottom of the seventh,” Tiger Manager Larry Parrish said. “We weren’t doing anything on offense and needed to keep it close to win. We didn’t.”

Royce Clayton and Ivan Rodriguez led off the Texas first with singles against Justin Thompson (0-1). They both scored when Rusty Greer doubled to the wall in left-center field. Thompson gave up seven hits and left after the fifth with the score 2-0.

Ranger pitchers combined on a shutout a day after Detroit beat them, 11-5.