Major League Baseball
Detroit 8, Tampa Bay 7
When: 7:08 PM ET, Tuesday, September 8, 2015
Where: Comerica Park, Detroit, Michigan
Temperature: 86°
Umpires: Home - Chris Segal, 1B - Tim Timmons, 2B - Tim Welke, 3B - Todd Tichenor
Attendance: 26526

DETROIT -- Rajai Davis knew he ended the Detroit Tigers' second-longest game of the season. The rest of the details were a little sketchy.

The Tigers' left fielder hit a one-out, sacrifice fly that brought home James McCann with the game-winning run as the Tigers edged the Tampa Bay Rays 8-7 in 13 innings on Tuesday night at Comerica Park. Davis' fly ball finished off a 5-hour, 3-minute marathon.

"It was definitely a long game," he said. "Everything else is just blurry right now. I'm just glad we were able to pull out the win."

McCann, Detroit's catcher, reached on a leadoff single. He advanced to second on Jefry Marte's sacrifice that was bobbled by losing pitcher Andrew Bellatti (2-1), allowing Marte to reach first. Following third baseman Andrew Romine's sacrifice bunt, Davis hit the ball just far enough to left field to bring in McCann.

The only other Tigers game that lasted longer this season was a 5-4, 14-inning loss to Pittsburgh that took 5 hours, 30 minutes to complete.

"If you're going to stay here this long, you might as well win," McCann said. "It's hard to walk out of a game like that with a loss."

Davis was quite active throughout the game, even if it all seemed to swirl in his brain afterward. He hit his third home run in the last two games during the third inning. He was also involved in four replay reviews.

"I can't say I've ever witnessed that or been a part of anything like that before but we came up on the good side of it," he said. "It's definitely one of those records I have now, a personal record, being reviewed all those times."

Right fielder J.D. Martinez added his 36th homer, Romine drove in two runs and Kyle Ryan (2-3) got the victory with 1 1/3 innings of scoreless relief for Detroit (64-74).

Third baseman Evan Longoria knocked in three runs for the Rays (67-71), who lost for the fifth time in six games and dropped four games below .500 for the first time this season.

Bellatti, who was brought up from Triple-A Durham on Tuesday, pitched a scoreless 12th and manager Kevin Cash decided to leave him in for another inning.

"He looked really good throwing the ball," Cash said. "We misplayed a bunt and when you're given an out, you've got to get the out and not allow them to bunt again. But stuff-wise, he looked really good. He went through the teeth of their lineup the inning before."

Tampa Bay starter Erasmo Ramirez struck out a season-high nine batters in five-plus innings. But Cash took him out with his club leading 5-1 after Ramirez gave up three singles in the sixth. The Tigers ended up tying the game that inning.

Ramirez squandered a four-run lead in his previous start.

"As far as the decision in the sixth, it was probably heading toward deja vu all over again," Cash said. "We felt, 'Let's try to nip it right there.' At that point, our best chance of winning was to shut down that inning."

The Rays batted around in the sixth, scoring four runs to break a 1-1 tie. Pinch-hitter Grady Sizemore, Longoria, second baseman Logan Forsythe and designated hitter Tim Beckham had run-scoring singles during the outburst.

Detroit then tied it after Bellatti was removed. A bases-loaded walk and a hit batter brought in the first two runs and Romine knotted it with a two-out, two-run single.

Tampa Bay regained the lead at 6-5 in the seventh on pinch-hitter Daniel Nava's RBI single off Blaine Hardy. The Tigers tied it in the bottom of the inning when center fielder Anthony Gose scored on catcher Rene Rivera's throwing error.

Martinez blasted a go-ahead, leadoff home run in the eighth. Longoria's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the ninth against Detroit closer Bruce Rondon tied it again at 7.

NOTES: Detroit DH Victor Martinez was out of the lineup for the second straight game because of an illness. ... The Tigers recalled OF Steven Moya, INFs Jefry Marte and Josh Wilson and LHP Ian Krol from Triple-A Toledo on Tuesday. All but Moya had previous stints with the Tigers this season. The Mud Hens' season ended on Monday. ... The Rays recalled INF Nick Franklin and RHP Andrew Bellatti from Triple-A Durham, which also completed its season on Monday. ... Tampa Bay 2B Logan Forsythe was named the American League Player of the Week for Aug. 31-Sept. 6 after hitting .545. "I went through a stretch where the swing was just feeling right," Forsythe said.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
Tampa Bay   Detroit
Erasmo Ramirez Player Matt Boyd
No Decision W/L No Decision
5.0 IP 5.0
9 Strikeouts 5
6 Hits 3
7.20 ERA 5.40
Hitting
Tampa Bay   Detroit
J.P. Arencibia Player Rajai Davis
2 Hits 2
0 RBI 2
0 HR 1
3 TB 5
.667 Avg .400
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
Tampa Bay 13 0 16 .271 22 11 7 4 0 2
Detroit 14 2 20 .292 19 18 7 2 0 1