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AL pitchers in the zone

Curt Schilling of the Red Sox pitches to the Indians at Jacobs Field in Cleveland, Ohio, Monday. Boston lost their fourth straight as Cleveland won 2-1. PHOTO: AFP

American League

Rogers was the best of all, becoming the oldest Texas pitcher to throw a shutout since Nolan Ryan in 1991. The 39-year-old left-hander led the surging Rangers to their fifth straight victory, 9-0 over visiting Tampa Bay.

"I didn't even look at the scoreboard after the second," Rogers said. "I knew I had the lead and had to keep throwing strikes."

Texas scored eight runs in the first inning, making it easy on Rogers. Westbrook had it much tougher, locking up with Schilling in Cleveland's 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox.

Westbrook pitched six scoreless innings at Jacobs Field, boosting his bid to win a permanent spot in the Indians' rotation.

"I want to start, but I'll pitch wherever they need me," he said. "It felt good to go out there and put up six zeros."

Gobble retired his first 16 batters in Toronto -- but didn't even get a win. The Royals blew a two-run lead with two outs in the ninth before Aaron Guiel homered in the 10th for a 3-2 victory.

"I've never even been in the ninth inning before," Gobble said. "It didn't work out but we got the win and that's all that matters."

In other AL games, Chicago beat Baltimore 5-4, and Anaheim outscored Detroit 11-9.

Rogers (4-1) struck out four, walked one and helped preserve his eighth career shutout when he made a lunging grab of Rocco Baldelli's liner with two on to end the third.

It was the 34th complete game of Rogers' career. He got his 105th win with the Rangers, moving ahead of Bobby Witt for second place in team history behind Charlie Hough (139).

"Kenny was in command the whole way," Texas manager Buck Showalter said. "He's always a good guy to have on the mound, but especially when you can put up that many runs early. He can use all his pitches."

Ryan was 44 when he pitched his last shutout on June 11, 1991.

Alfonso Soriano hit a two-run homer, and David Dellucci and Michael Young each had a three-run shot in the first. Texas (17-9) has won nine of 10 and owns the best record in the majors.

The Devil Rays, coming off an 8-2 win over Oakland on Sunday, have gone 25 games without consecutive victories. That's the longest such streak since Baltimore failed to win two straight over the first 25 games in 1999.

Westbrook (2-1) has allowed just two runs and eight hits in his last 22 innings. Using his sinker to perfection, he got 13 groundball outs and handed the Red Sox their fourth straight loss.

Rafael Betancourt worked the ninth for his first save -- Cleveland's third in nine tries.

Schilling has 2,587 strikeouts, moving him into 20th place on the career list ahead of Bob Feller (2,581) and Warren Spahn (2,583). But he gave up a two-run homer to Victor Martinez in the first inning.

Kansas City snapped a four-game losing streak and improved to 2-10 on the road.

National Leauge

Greg Maddux pitched seven strong innings, stole a base and scored twice, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the St. Louis Cardinals 7-3 Monday.

Sammy Sosa, Todd Walker and Derrek Lee homered for the Cubs, who split the four-game series despite scoring only 14 runs.

Albert Pujols and Jim Edmonds connected for the Cardinals.

Maddux (2-2) outpitched former Braves teammate Jason Marquis (1-2) for his 291st career win. He allowed two runs and seven hits, walking none and striking out six.

Walker drove in three runs. The Cubs won for only the seventh time in their last 34 games at Busch Stadium since 2000.

Reds 7, Astros 5

In Houston, Javier Valentin hit a two-run homer in the eighth inning and Cincinnati snapped a five-game losing streak, beating the Astros despite losing Ken Griffey Jr. to a stiff right hamstring.

Griffey, hampered by a string of injuries the last three years, left in the third inning after striking out against Roy Oswalt. The center fielder was replaced by Jason Romano and is day-to-day.

Valentin put Cincinnati ahead 6-5 with a home run off Brad Lidge (0-1). D'Angelo Jimenez added a solo shot in the ninth for the Reds.
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