Jeremy Hellickson (2-0), making his second major league start and appearance after being recalled Monday night from Triple-A Durham for the second time this month, gave up three hits and struck out seven, without walking a batter, over seven innings.
Joaquin Benoit pitched the eighth and Mike Ekstrom the ninth.
After allowing Austin Jackson's single to lead off the game, Hellickson retired 18 straight batters and faced the minimum through six innings. Johnny Damon flied out after Jackson's hit and Brennan Boesch hit into a double play to end the inning.
Hellickson struck out six of eight batters during a span from the second through fifth innings. Damon's one-out single in the seventh broke Hellickson's streak. Boesch followed with a single, but Hellickson induced Miguel Cabrera to hit into a double play to get out of the jam.
Max Scherzer (7-9), the opposing pitcher when the Rays' Matt Garza no-hit the Tigers in Tampa Bay on July 26, gave up one earned run and four hits in seven innings, walking four and striking out two.
Tampa Bay got its first two runs on Detroit miscues. The Rays took a 1-0 lead in the fifth when Ryan Raburn bobbled Jason Bartlett's double to left-center field to allow Dan Johnson to score from first with one out.
Scherzer's wild pitch made it 2-0 in the seventh as Johnson, who had walked and advanced on two groundouts, scored from third.
Evan Longoria added an RBI double in the eighth. John Jaso hit a run-scoring double, Ben Zobrist a sacrifice fly and Willy Aybar, Johnson and B.J. Upton walked with the bases loaded in the ninth.
NOTES
Tampa Bay manager Joe Maddon talked about using catcher John Jaso as the team's leadoff man. Jaso, the first Rays C to ever bat leadoff, led off for the 19th time on Tuesday night. "He works good at-bats, he gets on base, he's a good baserunner … he's going to make good reads," Maddon said. … Maddon said 1B Carlos Pena, on the 15-day DL with a right plantar fascia sprain, looked good during a workout on the field before Tuesday night's game. … Rays 1B Johnson walked four times. … Detroit fans gave their largest cheer of the night when reliever Enrique Gonzalez, who threw seven straight balls when he entered the game with the bases loaded in the ninth, threw a strike to Upton on a 3-0 pitch. Gonzalez then walked Upton to force in another run.