Giants beats Rays 5-1 for 8th win in row

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - The way the San Francisco Giants are playing lately, even a sloppy defensive performance couldn’t cool off the NL West leaders.

Brandon Belt homered and Joe Panik snapped an eighth-inning tie with an RBI single, helping the Giants extend their winning streak to a season-best eight games with Sunday’s 5-1 victory against the Tampa Bay Rays.

“We’re just playing the way we play,” pitcher Jake Peavy said.

“We just come out and play the best team game and have the best team approach. ... Don’t get too high, don’t get too low,” Peavy added. “We’ve found a nice little run of consistency to be able to pull off some really tight ballgames.”

Peavy pitched six solid innings and Derek Law (2-1) worked a scoreless seventh in completing a three-game sweep at Tropicana Field. Belt hit his team-leading 10th homer off Rays starter Jake Odorizzi, while Panik delivered in a key situation for the second day in a row with his run-scoring single against Xavier Cedeno (3-2) during a four-run eighth.

Panik is just 2 for 14 through three games of a week-long road trip, but both have broken late-inning ties. His three-run, ninth-inning homer was the big blow in Saturday’s 6-4 win against Tampa Bay, which has lost four in a row.

The Giants matched their longest winning streak of the season. The NL West leaders are a major league-leading 27-8 since May 11, the day they began their other eight-game run.

But Sunday wasn’t all pretty.

The Giants looked like a team playing a game that started a little after 10 a.m. San Francisco time - committing three errors in the first two innings, with one of the miscues - Peavy’s errant pickoff throw - allowing Tampa Bay’s only run to score.

The Rays weren’t able to fully take advantage of the sloppy play, however, going 0 for 8 with runners in scoring position through three innings. Belt’s second homer in three days wiped out a 1-0 deficit in the fourth, and Peavy kept the game close by retiring 12 of the last 13 batters he faced after giving up a leadoff single to Evan Longoria in the third.

“We made Jake work pretty hard the first three innings,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “For him the one run was really impressive considering all that happened behind him.”

TRAINER’S ROOM

Giants: RHP Sergio Romo (right flexor strain), who’s on a rehab assignment with Class A San Jose, could return during a five-game homestand that begins next Friday ... C Buster Posey was given a break from defensive play for the second consecutive game and was the designated hitter ... 3B Matt Duffy was removed from the game in the seventh with a sore left Achilles tendon. Bochy said he was day to day.