and wins. He was placed on the 15-day disabled list on August 16 (retroactive to August 14) with a strained muscle in his left rib cage and made one start on rehab assignment on August 26 for Pawtucket before being activated on September 1. Sele led the Red Sox in in wins and starts while ranking third in innings and strikeouts. He was 4–1, 3.72 in his first 7 starts through May and 4–1, 3.93 in a span of 5 outings from June 12 to July 3. He held right-handed batters to a .224 average, 7th best among AL starters, and tied his then-career high with 11 strikeouts on July 12 against Toronto. He was among the league leaders in hit batters (2nd, 15), walks (10th), and runs allowed (T10th) and allowed the most baserunners per 9 innings among AL starters (14.8). Texas Rangers Sele was traded to the Texas Rangers with Mark Bradenburg and Bill Haselman on November 6, 1997, for Damon Buford and Jim Leyritz. Sele tied for 4th in the AL with a career-high 19 wins in , matching the 4th most in Rangers' history. He also tied for 5th in the league with 2 shutouts, set career highs for complete games, shutouts and innings pitched and led the majors with 13 victories at home. His first 2 career complete game shutouts came in a span of 3 starts, a 3-hitter on April 9 in Chicago and a 4-hitter on April 21 against Tampa Bay, the 2 lowest-hit complete games of his big league career. He won his first 5 starts of the season, going 5–0, 2.00 (36.0 IP, 8 ER) through April 26. This streak ended with a loss in Boston on May 1, snapping an overall 6-game winning streak over 2 seasons. The streak matched his career high. He was the majors' first 8-game (May 23) and 11-game (June 23) winner, as well as the first pitcher in the AL with 9 (June 8), 10 (June 18), and 12 (July 4) victories. He was 12–5, 4.04 in 18 starts in the 1st half to earn his first selection to the AL All-Star team. However, he did not see action in the July 7 game at Colorado. Beginning August 19, he was 6–1, 2.41 in his final 8 games and had a string of 13.2 straight scoreless innings over 2 starts on September 9 and 14.