Tigers 8, Rays 6 (11): Ian Kinsler tripled to lead off the 11th and scored the go-ahead run when Victor Martinez drew a bases-loaded walk as visiting Detroit scored three times in the inning to take the opener of a three-game series.

Torii Hunter walked and Miguel Cabrera was given an intentional pass by Grant Balfour (1-5) after Kinsler’s second hit and Martinez quickly made it 6-5. Hunter scored on a wild pitch and Cabrera came home on a Bryan Holaday sacrifice fly to make a winner out of Jim Johnson (5-2), who pitched a scoreless 10th.

J.D. Martinez belted his 17th homer and Joe Nathan gave up a run before notching his 26th save for the Tigers, who remained in a virtual tie for the American League’s second wild card and two games back in the AL Central. James Loney belted a three-run homer among his three hits for the Rays, who are seven games behind in the AL wild-card chase.

Ben Zobrist was hit by a pitch and Evan Longoria walked before Loney launched an 0-1 fastball just inside the right-field foul pole in the first inning. Cabrera brought the Tigers within 4-3 when he capped a three-run fifth with an RBI single after video review revealed that center field Desmond Jennings trapped his line drive.

Detroit forged a tie in the sixth after Alex Avila and Andrew Romine drew two-out walks and Rajai Davis singled to center field. J.D. Martinez homered to center off Joel Peralta in the eighth, but the Rays loaded the bases in their half of the inning before Vince Belnome registered his first career RBI with a sacrifice fly.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Belnome collected his first major-league hit with a double and scored on Zobrist’s two-out single in the second inning, and had a home run overturned by umpire review in the fourth before striking out later in the at-bat. … Tampa Bay RHP Chris Archer allowed four runs (one earned), five hits and five walks over the first 5 2/3 innings while Detroit RHP Max Scherzer yielded four runs on four hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings. … Detroit RHP Justin Verlander, the 2011 AL MVP, threw from 60 feet for about 10 minutes Tuesday afternoon and told the Detroit Free Press his sore shoulder felt better.