Major League Baseball

Rays 4, Tigers 3(10)

Published Jun. 30, 2013 4:59 a.m. ET

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Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera's 10th inning at-bat against Tampa Bay closer Fernando Rodney overshadowed the Rays' comeback victory.

Yunel Escobar had an RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning as the Rays rallied for a 4-3 victory over the Tigers on Saturday night.

But most of the attention after the game centered on Cabrera yelling at the Tampa Bay dugout after he struck out against Rodney. The Rays right-hander threw an in-tight and up pitch to back Cabrera off the plate during the at-bat.

''I don't know what he's saying,'' Rodney said. ''I'm trying to do my job. You have to pitch inside sometimes. You have to pitch inside, outside, everywhere. You don't want to hit nobody because the game is on the line.

''That's what I got on my mind, try to move (him) a little bit because the guy is a dangerous hitter.''

Cabrera declined to comment about the confrontation, but Tigers manager Jim Leyland talked about it in a strong way.

''I don't care about throwing inside, but I don't like it up there, and we will not tolerate that,'' Leyland said. ''I'm not accusing anybody of anything but we won't tolerate that. If you're going to just rare back and throw it, you can't throw it there. That'll cause a lot of problems for people. That's not a good idea. That's not acceptable.

''We lost a tough game. They earned the win, they got the win, and OK, more power to them, but throwing in that area is not acceptable, and somebody pays the price for that throughout baseball. That's just the way baseball is. That's not free. There's no free lunch. That won't be tolerated. You can take that to the bank''

Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon said he had no idea why Cabrera was upset.

''You'd have to ask him why,'' Maddon said. ''I was kind of surprised, actually.''

Rodney (3-2) threw two scoreless innings for the win

Cabrera went 1 for 4 with a walk, but his major league-leading batting average dropped two points to .375. He has a 14-game hitting streak.

James Loney had a one-out single in the 10th off Bruce Rondon (0-1). Pinch-runner Sam Fuld went to second on Wil Myers' single, and after Luke Scott struck out, both runners advanced on a wild pitch.

Escobar won it for the Rays with a line drive that sailed over the head of center fielder Austin Jackson.

''I'm very happy that I was able to help the team win,'' Escobar said through an interpreter.

Scott tied it at 3 on a solo homer with one out in the eighth off Tigers starter Justin Verlander, who allowed three runs, nine hits and four walks during a season-high eight innings. Verlander is winless in his last four starts.

''This is the game we've talked about that we have to start winning, and we won it tonight against a really good team,'' Maddon said.

Rays slugger Evan Longoria was out of the starting lineup for the first time this season due to a sore right foot. The third baseman, who left Friday night's game, is also expected to sit out on Sunday against the Tigers.

Jackson hit an opposite-field solo homer to right, and Jhonny Peralta had a two-run single off Chris Archer that put the Tigers ahead 3-0 in the third.

Archer gave up three runs, five hits, three walks and had three strikeouts in five innings.

Loney had an RBI single during the fifth to get the Rays within 3-2. Verlander avoided further damage by getting a double-play grounder from rookie Myers with two on and one out.

Loney grounded into a double play with runners on the corners and one out in the seventh. Myers flied out with two runners on to end the first.

Tampa Bay's Desmond Jennings tripled and scored on Ben Zobrist's grounder in the third. Jennings, playing in center, was charged with an error in the eighth, which snapped a streak of 262 games in the outfield without a miscue.

NOTES: Detroit RHP Anibal Sanchez (right shoulder strain) will pitch Monday in Florida for either Class A Lakeland or the rookie level Gulf Coast League Tigers. ... Loney extended his hitting streak to 10 games with a single in the first. ... The Rays recalled INF Ryan Roberts from Triple-A Durham and optioned RHP Alex Colome to the International League club. ... Home plate umpire Dan Iassogna remained in the game after he appeared to get hit near the right wrist by a pitch from Rodney in the ninth that partially deflected off C Jose Molina's glove.

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