Shelton, Verlander Keep Tigers Rolling

Chris Shelton tripled twice and drove in three runs, Justin Verlander pitched seven innings for his first career win and the Detroit Tigers remained the American League’s only unbeaten team with a 7-0 victory over the Texas Rangers on Saturday at Arlington, Texas.

Shelton hit five home runs in his first four games this season, but he showed off his baserunning Saturday. Verlander held the Rangers to two singles over seven innings to help the Tigers get off to their first 5-0 start since 1985.

Manager Jim Leyland remained cautious about his team’s fast start.

“I don’t [put] much stock in it,” said Leyland, who last managed with the Colorado Rockies in 1999. “I put stock in the fact that these games give us confidence and help us feel better about ourselves. We still have a long hill to climb.”

Shelton hit a two-run triple in the first inning to put the Tigers ahead, 4-0, and a run-scoring triple in the third.

Curtis Granderson hit a two-run homer in the seventh, giving the Tigers 17 this season.

Oakland 3, Seattle 0 -- Barry Zito combined with three relievers at Seattle and the Athletics shut out the Mariners for the second game in a row.

Mark Kotsay gave the Athletics all the offense they needed with a home run and a triple.

The only hit Zito (1-1) gave up in six innings was Richie Sexson’s double in the second inning, which plopped out of Kotsay’s glove and off the outfield wall after the center fielder had sprinted 30 yards trying to flag it down.

Boston 2, Baltimore 1 -- Curt Schilling gave up three hits in seven innings and Jason Varitek had a hand in the two Red Sox runs in a game at Baltimore that started 90 minutes late because of rain.

Varitek hit two doubles and drove in a run. Manny Ramirez had two hits for the Red Sox (4-1), who are off to their best start since 2002.

Schilling (2-0) struck out four and walked two. He has a 1.93 earned-run average.

Cleveland 3, Minnesota 0 -- Jason Johnson (1-0) gave up four hits in seven innings at Cleveland in his Indian debut and Travis Hafner homered again.

Hafner was three for three to extend his streak of reaching base safely to 10 in a row over three games. He helped the Indians stretch their winning streak to four games.

Kansas City 4, Chicago 3 -- Mike Sweeney hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and the Royals rallied for the victory at home.

The White Sox, who won 16 of their first 20 games last season, have lost four of their first five this season.

Toronto 8, Tampa Bay 4 -- Gregg Zaun hit a go-ahead homer and the host Blue Jays rallied from a four-run deficit.

Zaun -- activated from the disabled list before the game -- gave Toronto a 5-4 lead with a two-run homer in the fifth inning.