ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Brandon Belt got the previous three games off in Philadelphia for a mental break and work on his swing, and the first results were outstanding. Belt had three hits, coming within a double of hitting for the cycle, as the San Francisco Giants beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 on Friday night. "He looked great," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We talked in Philly, and hes all in with trying to make a couple adjustments. Its not easy to do it for a day, so give three days to work on it. It was good for him." Belt has loosened the grip on the bat and is positioned deeper in the batters box. He called Fridays success a 60-40 split, with the higher percentage being for the batting work. "I think mentally Ive stayed in there pretty well," said Belt, who been mired a 1-for-19 slide. "Theres just some things that I need to work on to tap into my ability a little more." Madison Bumgarner struck out 11 in seven innings and Brandon Crawford hit a two-run homer for San Francisco, which was won three straight. The defending World Series champions are 10 games under .500. This was the first time since 2004 that the teams met. Tampa Bay has lost two in a row, including its first game in August. The Rays went 21-5 in July. Bumgarner (11-7) gave up one run, working around seven hits and three walks. He tied his season high for strikeouts. Bumgarners current nine-start stretch of allowing two earned runs or less and pitching at least seven innings is the second-longest in franchise history since records are available, behind the New York Giants Ferdie Schupps 12 in 1916-17. "Any time youre able to battle through when you dont necessarily have the command youre used to having, it makes it a tougher kind of battle," Bumgarner said. "Youre going to have games like that." Sergio Romo got two outs for his 26th save. After Belt hit an RBI triple in the seventh against Chris Archer (6-4), Crawford followed with his home run for a 4-1 lead. Archer allowed four runs and seven hits in seven innings. He had permitted just two runs -- one earned -- over 31 innings in winning his previous four starts. Belt got the Giants first two hits off Archer. He singled in the third and tied it at 1 with his homer in the fifth, which stopped a career-high stretch of 18 shutout innings for Archer. "Everything I threw, Belt saw," Archer said. "A fastball down and he kind of crushed it. Fastball first pitch, he went the other way for a base hit. So I figured Ill try a changeup, mix it up, but he saw that well, too (for the homer)." Ben Zobrist put the Rays ahead 1-0 with an RBI single in the third. Bumgarner, who had a 16-inning scoreless streak end, avoided a big inning by getting an inning-ending pop fly from Sean Rodriguez with the bases loaded. Bumgarner worked out of a two-on, no-out jam in the fifth by retiring Evan Longoria, Wil Myers and Rodriguez. "Just a tough competitor," Bochy said. "Going seven innings, one run, shows you how good he is. He was without his good command tonight." This is just the third series between the teams. When they last played in June 2004 in Florida, the Giants had Barry Bonds, and Jose Bautista was on the roster of the then-Devil Rays. NOTES: Struggling Giants LHP Barry Zito will not make his next scheduled start Sunday and will be replaced by RHP Guillermo Moscoso. ... Rays RHP Alex Cobb, hit in the head by a liner in June, is scheduled to pitch Saturday for Class A Charlotte. His first rehab start lasted just two pitches due to a blister. ... Tampa Bay LHP David Price (6-5) and San Francisco RHP Tim Lincecum (5-11) are Saturday nights scheduled starters. It will be just the second game in Rays history featuring former Cy Young Award winners. Price faced Toronto RHP R.A. Dickey on May 9. ... With Price pitching, the left-handed hitting Belt could be out of the lineup. Clearance Air Jordan Store . All of the scoring came in the final 20:04. Lucic scored on a power play at 15:46 of the third period, when he tipped a shot over Stars goalie Kari Lehtonen for a 3-1 lead. Wholesale Air Jordan . Note: The Calgary Flames announced Tuesday that Sean Monahan would not be made available to Canadas World Junior team. https://www.jordanchina.us/ . The All-Pro lineman got the leg bent under him while trying to make a tackle during the first half of a 22-20 overtime loss at Miami on Thursday night. The medical staff initially thought hed torn the ligament, and the test a day later in Cincinnati confirmed it. Fake Jordan . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. Cheap Jordan From China . The lawyers filed a 33-page amended complaint Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, expanding on the suit originally filed Oct. 3 in New York Supreme Court. Arbitrator Fredric Horowitz last week refused to compel Selig to testify in the grievance, and Rodriguez then walked out of the hearing without testifying. NEW YORK -- Six batters into the game, the New York Mets were down five runs. By the time it was over, Logan Verrett had lost his spot in the rotation.Ryan Schimpf hit two of San Diegos four homers off Verrett and drove in six runs as the Padres beat the reeling Mets 8-6 on Friday night.Fellow rookie Jabari Blash and Christian Bethancourt also connected early for the Padres, who handed the defending NL champions their fourth straight defeat and sixth in seven games. New York (57-58) fell below .500 for the first time since April 17.Still, manager Terry Collins was pleased with the effort, by comparison. Thats how bad things have been going for the Mets lately.You saw a lot better energy tonight, a lot more passion, Collins said. There were some very good at-bats tonight. I thought the energy level was much better today.Beneath a dark sky with lightning flashing, the Padres produced some quick thunder against Verrett (3-8), who has been filling in for injured starter Matt Harvey.After the game, Collins said the Mets now plan to turn to Jon Niese in that slot.One day after getting swept at home by last-place Arizona, the Mets again failed to look like legitimate wild-card contenders. San Diego, which has alternated wins and losses since July 26, jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning -- including a grand slam by Schimpf.Travis Jankowski opened with a single, and Wil Myers and Yangervis Solarte walked to load the bases.After a popout to left field, Schimpf sent a 1-0 fastball just over the center-field wall for his first career slam.As Mets fans began to chant Rainout! Rainout! hoping for a reprieve, Blash hit an opposite-field home run into the visitors bullpen to make it 5-0.The threatening clouds passed, and inclement weather couldnt save New York.Travis dArnaud, who had three hits, got the Mets on the board in the second, lining a two-run homer to left off Padres starter Paul Clemens.We all showed that we never give up no matter how much we were down, dArnaud said.San Diego answered immediately in the third. Schimpf sent a two-run shot into the right-field upper deck, his 12th home run in 47 games. Two batters later, Bethancourt chased Verrett with a solo home run, putting the Padres up 8-2.The fouur homers allowed by Verrett, who gave up eight runs in 2 2/3 innings, were the most for a Mets starter since Bartolo Colon also served up four in April 2014.ddddddddddddI put us in a hole 5-0 in the first inning and what did they do? They battled back, Verrett said. Thats the kind of guys we have on this team. Im proud as hell of the way they played today.Clemens (2-2) pitched five innings of three-run ball, and Brandon Maurer worked a flawless ninth for his fifth save.Jay Bruce had an RBI single in the fifth, and New York rallied in the sixth against San Diegos bullpen.After dArnaud led off with a single, Alejandro De Aza was hit in the neck by Buddy Baumanns 87 mph fastball. De Aza was OK, and Matt Reynolds followed with an RBI double. Ty Kelly had a run-scoring single to make it 8-5.They did not roll over at all, Padres manager Andy Green said. They fought and made it a heck of a baseball game.Left-hander Brad Hand struck out Curtis Granderson, and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores grounded into a fielders choice that scored Reynolds.To come back and make it a game, Collins said, I was impressed with the way they went about it.A trio of Mets relievers combined for 6 1/3 perfect innings with eight strikeouts.LETS TRY THISNiese will likely take Verretts next turn in the rotation if he is physically up to it. Nieses left knee has been bothering him lately, according to Collins, but the left-hander seems to be feeling better.Were going to make a change in that spot, Collins said. Just making sure Jons knee is going to be OK. ... Looks like hes going to be fine.TRAINERS ROOMMets INF Jose Reyes (oblique) continued his rehab assignment with Class A Brooklyn, going 2 for 5 with a double, an RBI and two runs while playing seven innings at third base.UP NEXTPadres: RHP Jarred Cosart (0-1, 5.79 ERA) makes his third start for San Diego since being acquired from Miami. He has allowed five runs on 11 hits and six walks in 8 1/3 innings with the Padres.Mets: RHP Jacob deGrom (7-5, 2.35) goes for his fourth straight quality start Saturday night. He is 2-1 with a 1.62 ERA since the All-Star break. ' ' '