Evan Longoria homered and had three of Tampa Bay’s 14 hits as the Rays handed the Detroit Tigers their ninth straight road loss with a 7-4 decision on Wednesday night.

Longoria gave the Rays some breathing room with a two-run homer in the eighth inning, just his third home run in his last 32 games. He entered the contest on an 0-for-18 tailspin, but his blast to left broke open a 5-4 game.

Detroit took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI double by Johnny Damon and a run-scoring single by Jeff Larish. Damon homered in the third to make it 3-1.

But Tampa Bay tied the score with a pair of runs in the third. Carlos Pena drove in one with a single and the second scored on an RBI groundout by Willy Aybar.

The Rays took a 5-3 lead in the fourth as Jason Bartlett singled to score Reid Brignac, and Carl Crawford followed with an RBI grounder.

Jeff Niemann (9-3) picked up the win. He allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings. Rafael Soriano pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 28th save.

Miguel Cabrera hit his 25th home run of the season for Detroit. Eddie Bonine (4-1) took the loss as he was charged with five runs in 3 1/3 innings.