by Steve Carney

James Shields allowed a career-high 14 hits, and a run scored on an error in the fourth inning proved to be the difference, as the Detroit Tigers sent the Tampa Bay Rays to their fourth straight loss with a 5-2 decision Thursday.

Detroit opened the scoring by plating a pair in the third inning thanks to five hits off Shields, including an RBI single from Delmon Young and a run-scoring double by Alex Avila.

The Tigers added to their lead an inning later, as Brennan Boesch singled to start the frame, moved to second on a groundout by Ramon Santiago, headed to third on an Austin Jackson single, and scored when Carlos Pena couldn't handle Quinton Berry's bunt for an error.

The Rays got on the board in the bottom of the fifth, as Brooks Conrad doubled leading off the inning, and scored two batters later on an RBI single by Elliot Johnson.

Detroit pushed the lead back to three runs, as Miguel Cabrera brought in Austin Jackson with a single off Shields (7-5).

Conrad's seventh-inning double off reliever Phil Coke brought in Jeff Keppinger to make it 4-2, but Tampa Bay left the tying runs on base when Coke struck out Pena to end the threat.

Miguel Cabrera hit his 16th home run of the season, a solo shot off Wade Davis in the ninth, to set the scoring.

Tampa Bay will try and snap the skid Friday, when David Price (10-4, 2.95 ERA) takes on Justin Verlander (8-4, 2.52 ERA).  First pitch is scheduled for 7:10, with pregame coverage starting at 6:30 on 620 WDAE.

NOTES: Shields also tied the franchise record for most hits allowed by a pitcher.  The record was set September 9, 2002 by Tanyon Sturtze and equaled twice previously, last by Edwin Jackson in September 2007.

First baseman Carlos Pena had a clear message to the team after the game. 

"We don't want to fold our tents. We want to take that extra step," Peña said. "It might be that extra step that gets us right where we want to be. This is a long year, and to think that we were going to go through the whole entire year without facing adversity is foolish. We've been facing a lot of adversity as a ballclub. I keep on saying it's how we handle the adversity that we're going through at this moment that is going to define us as champions or not."