Sele (7-0), Mariners Keep Up Torrid Pace

Aaron Sele, off to his best start, pitched seven strong innings at Kansas City, Mo., as the streaking Seattle Mariners defeated the Royals, 7-2, Saturday night.

Sele (7-0) joined Brad Radke and Dave Burba as the AL’s only seven-game winners, giving up both runs and eight hits. He lowered his earned-run average to 2.81--second in the league behind Boston’s Pedro Martinez (1.60).

He tied the Mariners’ record for wins at the start of the season, set by right-handed reliever Roy Thomas in 1985.

“Fortunately for me, the way our defense is playing you can be real aggressive with guys and come after them even when you’re behind in the count,” he said.

Seattle, off to baseball’s best start this year, won for the 12th time in 15 games and improved to 35-12, including 20-5 on the road. The Mariners are 10-0 when Sele starts.

“That’s just a testament to all the guys that they’re not losing focus when we go on the road,” Sele said. “We’re not looking down the road. We’re not worried about what we’ve done in the past. We all understand there are four months to go in the season.”

Brian Meadows (1-6) gave up four runs and seven hits in four innings. Seattle’s Ichiro Suzuki was one for six, dropping his average to .357. Carlos Guillen’s two-run double and the first of Dan Wilson’s two run-scoring singles gave the Mariners a 3-0 lead in the second.

Wilson Delgado hit an RBI grounder in the bottom half, but Seattle went ahead, 4-1, on Wilson’s run-scoring single in the fourth. Bret Boone hit a two-run homer off Blake Stein in the seventh.

Oakland 5-6, Minnesota 4-7--Torii Hunter homered twice and hit the game-winning single in the 10th inning as Minnesota gained a split of a doubleheader at Minneapolis.

Minnesota tied it in the ninth on Hunter’s home run off Jeff Tam and Doug Mientkiewicz’s RBI single off Mark Guthrie. In the opener, Frank Menechino scored the tiebreaking run on LaTroy Hawkins’ second wild pitch of the 10th inning.

New York 12, Cleveland 5--Roger Clemens moved into fifth place on the career strikeout list and Chuck Knoblauch and Derek Jeter each reached base five times, leading the Yankees at Cleveland.

Clemens (5-1) struck out eight, giving up five runs and eight hits in seven innings. With 3,575 strikeouts, he moved one ahead of Don Sutton and is 65 behind fourth-place Tom Seaver (3,640).

Toronto 5, Boston 0--Chris Michalak (5-3) gave up seven hits in eight innings at Boston, combining with Paul Quantrill to hand the Red Sox their first shutout loss.

Frank Castillo (5-3), who pitched for Toronto last season, gave up three runs and five hits in six-plus innings and struck out nine.

Chicago 8, Detroit 0--Mark Buehrle (2-3) pitched a three-hitter at Detroit for his first major league shutout. Chris Singleton had four hits and scored three runs, and Ray Durham hit a home run. The White Sox won their third in a row after an eight-game losing streak.

Texas at Baltimore, ppd., rain--No makeup date was announced. The teams are scheduled to play today and Monday.

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Lords of the Ks

Roger Clemens moved into fifth place on the all-time strikeout list Saturday:

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Strikeouts Avg.* Nolan Ryan 5,714 9.55 Steve Carlton 4,136 7.13 Bert Blyleven 3,701 6.70 Tom Seaver 3,640 6.85 Roger Clemens 3,575 8.59 Don Sutton 3,574 6.02 Gaylord Perry 3,534 5.94 Walter Johnson 3,509 5.32 Phil Niekro 3,342 5.57 Fergie Jenkins 3,192 6.38

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* Strikeouts per nine innings