Associated Press
Tuesday, April 30, 2002; Page D04

It was a reversal of fortune for Kansas City's Jeff Suppan and Detroit's Jeff Weaver.

Suppan (2-3) pitched a two-hitter, and Kansas City broke a scoreless tie on Weaver's wild pitch in the eighth inning as the Royals beat the host Detroit Tigers, 4-0, last night.

When the two pitchers faced each other last Tuesday, Weaver pitched a five-hitter and won, 3-0.

"He threw a little better last time," Suppan said. "Jeff is a good pitcher. He kept his team in the ballgame."

Suppan (2-3) and Weaver (1-4) were locked in a scoreless duel into the eighth inning.

Carlos Febles singled with one out in the eighth and went to third on Donnie Sadler's double. With a 1-1 count on Michael Tucker, Weaver threw a pitch in the dirt that got past Mike Rivera for a run-scoring wild pitch.

Weaver recovered to strike out Tucker and retire Carlos Beltran on a flyout. Kansas City then added three runs in the ninth on RBI singles by Joe Randa and Febles, and a bases-loaded walk to Sadler.

"We got a couple of guys on base and didn't do anything with it," Detroit's Shane Halter said. "They did."

• TWINS 3, DEVIL RAYS 2: In Minneapolis, Eric Milton rebounded from a rough outing to pitch 7 1/3 strong innings, and Denny Hocking drove in two runs.

Taking the first of a four-game series, the Twins momentarily ended their woes against the Devil Rays, who had won 12 of 15 against Minnesota since Aug. 8, 2000.

The Twins followed an 8-1 homestand by losing five of six on the road last week -- including two defeats in three games at Tampa Bay.

"Great starting pitching, closer comes in the game to close it out, great plays defensively, and we executed offensively," Hocking said. "That's something we didn't do for six games on the road trip. If we executed on the road, we probably could've gone 5-1 or 4-2."

Milton (4-2) gave up six hits, a walk and a pair of runs, and struck out three. He was relieved by J.C. Romero after Randy Winn beat out an infield hit.

Eddie Guardado pitched a perfect ninth for his ninth save in nine chances to send the Devil Rays lost their fourth in a row.

Milton allowed eight runs in 4 1/3 innings in a 9-1 loss to the Devil Rays last week.