Tigers Recover From Big Loss

The Detroit Tigers quickly put an embarrassing loss behind them.

Dean Palmer hit his 200th career home run and Gabe Kapler added his first major league homer during a three-run eighth inning as the Tigers defeated the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, 7-5, Friday night.

Rookie Jeff Weaver (3-1) gave up two runs and four hits over five innings for the Detroit, which was coming off Thursday’s 22-6 loss to Seattle.

“Yesterday was the game you’d like to forget,” Detroit Manager Larry Parrish said.

In his first four major league starts, Weaver has given up only six runs. The right-hander walked three and struck out five, giving him 19 strikeouts over 22 innings.

“When I got the opportunity, I wanted to make sure I was ready and would be able to control my emotions and throw like I can,” Weaver said. “Luckily, I feel real comfortable around these guys.”

Palmer led off the eighth inning with a towering shot into the left-field stands off Albie Lopez, and Kapler hit a two-run homer off Lopez later in the inning.

Tampa Bay went 12-12 in April, the first non-losing month in its two-year history. The Devil Rays lost five of its last six in April after a six-game winning streak.

AROUND THE LEAGUE / Orioles Release Slocumb

The Baltimore Orioles released reliever Heathcliff Slocumb Friday, less than 24 hours after he gave up seven runs in one inning and walked off the mound with a 12.46 earned-run average.

Slocumb, who signed with Baltimore as a free agent in January, gave up 12 earned runs in 10 appearances. He had not given up a run in four consecutive outings before Kansas City homered twice in a seven-run ninth inning Thursday.

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With Joe Torre too weak to return to the dugout, Don Zimmer remained as the New York Yankees’ interim manager instead of going home to tend to his ailing knee. Torre, who had prostate cancer surgery March 18, did join the team on the road for the first time since the regular season began. . . .

About 3,000 fans walked out of Kauffman Stadium in Kansas City, Mo., during a game between the Yankees and Royals to protest baseball economics that pitted one of the richest teams against one of the poorest. The fans, wearing shirts that read “$hare the Wealth,” had gathered hours before the game to drink beer and line up for general admission tickets as a sponsoring radio station broadcast a show live from the stadium. . . .

Federal aviation officials, at the request of the FBI and security officials, said they have banned low-level flights over Camden Yards on Monday, when the Baltimore Orioles will play the Cuban national team.