Jose Drives Devil Rays To Win

Returning after missing four games with a sore right hand, Jose Canseco made an immediate impact.

Canseco hit a three-run homer as the Tampa Bay Devil Rays beat the Detroit Tigers 5-3 Thursday night.

"I was happy to help the team ... I was happy to pull the ball," Canseco said of his 390-foot blast. "The timing is not quite there, but much better."

It was Canseco's first extra-base hit since coming off the 15-day disabled list on Aug. 20 following the surgery. All 12 of his hits since then had been singles.

"I think he's got a chance to get things going," Tampa Bay manager Larry Rothschild said. "It's great to see. You could tell in batting practice he was pelting the (overhanging) catwalks."

While Canseco was back, the Devil Rays lost two players to leg injuries in the second inning.

Fred McGriff reported tightness in his left quadriceps after a leadoff double and Bubba Trammell left with a sprained left ankle after being doubled off first base. Both players were listed as day-to-day, although Rothschild said McGriff would not play on Friday and Trammell was questionable.

Rolando Arrojo (5-10) won despite allowing 10 hits and hitting three batters in 5 1-3 innings.

"Any pitcher would feel comfortable with Canseco in the lineup," Arrojo said. "He's a natural RBI man. Anytime, like tonight, he can put the team ahead."

Roberto Hernandez got the final three outs to pick up his career-high 39th save. He has converted 18 straight save opportunities.

"To me, it would be a lot better if we were in a pennant race," Hernandez said. "It's something to build on. Hopefully we can stay healthy and we can do something next year."

The Tigers' three-game winning streak, matching a season-high, was snapped.

Detroit got eight hits through three innings against Arrojo, but scored only twice.

"We had a lot of chances, but couldn't get a big hit," said Detroit manager Larry Parrish after the Tigers left 12 men stranded, including eight in scoring position. "One inning we had the bases loaded. If we get a big hit there, it could have changed the whole game around."

C.J. Nitkowski (2-5) made his third consecutive start after 104 straight appearances out of the bullpen. He gave up four runs and six hits in 4 2-3 innings.

Nitkowski was pulled after walking Terrell Lowery with two outs in the fifth. Matt Anderson gave up Canseco's homer on a 2-2 pitch.

"The kid that came in was throwing extremely hard," Canseco said. "It's a good sign I got around that quick."

Nitkowski, who made his longest outing of the season, expressed frustration about being lifted.

"It's a good thing you guys (reporters) don't get to come in here as soon as I came out," Nitkowski said. "We've got a big communication problem no talking about it, no nothing just `you're out of the game.' I feel like I worked to hard in this game just to get yanked out of there like that."

"It's just frustrating. I'm not 22 or 23 years old. You don't have to worry about my arm or any of that stuff. Just leave me out there, let's see what happens."

Tampa Bay's Bobby Smith, benched after striking out six consecutive times looking last month, tied the game at 2 with an RBI single earlier in the fifth. The hit snapped a 3-for-34 skid.

Detroit took a 2-1 lead on Deivi Cruz's RBI single in the second and a sacrifice fly by Frank Catalanotto in the third. Karim Garcia added a solo home run, his 10th, in the sixth.

Trammell hit a run-scoring single in the second.

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