ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- In the fifth inning on Saturday, Giants second baseman Joe Panik drove in a run by taking a pitch to the helmet with the bases loaded.

With two out in the ninth, he found a better way to bring in some runs.

An inning after the Giants tied the game, Panik crushed a three-run home run to right field, helping San Francisco to its seventh straight win, 6-4 over the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field.

"It's hard to get bigger hits than that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Panik's seventh home run. "Joe's so steady. He's so even-keeled day to day.

"He slows the game down as well as anybody. ... He got a slider he could handle and he's got some pop."

San Francisco (43-26) trailed in the eighth before tying the score and winning it in the ninth.

Trevor Brown and Gregor Blanco, eighth and ninth in the batting order, singled in the ninth against Rays closer Alex Colome (1-2), who came in with a 0.89 ERA.

With two outs and the score tied, Panik hit the game-winning home run.

"I thank my father for giving me a thick skull," Panik said of getting out of a pitch to the head with no real damage. "Colome's had some success and he's a fastball-slider guy.

"Watching at-bats, I was waiting for a slider because that's his out pitch, his go-to pitch."

The Rays (31-35) dropped their third straight -- they were 21-2 this season when leading after seven innings -- after the bullpen spoiled a solid outing by starter Matt Moore.

Colome gave up as many earned runs as he had in his first 28 appearances of the season. The Rays had four home runs, but all solo shots.

"Tough loss; we had somewhat control of the ballgame," Rays manager Kevin Cash said. "I liked the way the guys swung the bat, just wish a couple of those homers would've had some guys on base."

With Giants closer Santiago Casilla on the paternity list for the weekend, reliever Cory Gearrin pitched the ninth for his second save of the season.

Gearrin gave up a two-out solo home run to Logan Forsythe to cut the lead to 6-4 but was able to get a groundout from Brad Miller to end the game.

The Giants tied the score in the eighth when Buster Posey singled with one out, advanced on a sacrifice bunt and scored on Brandon Crawford's RBI single to right field to make it 3-3.

The Rays jumped out to a 3-1 lead on the strength of three home runs -- Evan Longoria hit his 17th of the season in the first, Miller hit his second in as many games and eighth of the season for a 2-1 lead in the third, and Logan Morrison hit his eighth in the fourth to make it 3-1.

The Giants tied the score 1-1 on Matt Duffy's homer -- his fourth of the season -- in the second, then had a chance to score much more in the fifth.

Rays starter Matt Moore loaded the bases with a walk to Brown (hitting .213 in the No. 8 spot) ahead of singles by Blanco and Denard Span.

Moore then hit Panik in the helmet to bring in a run and cut the Rays' lead to 3-2.

The Tampa Bay defense stepped up, however -- Brandon Belt hit a line drive to first base and Morrison threw to second to catch Span off base for a double play.

Then with Posey at the plate, left fielder Corey Dickerson made a sliding catch in left field on a line drive to end the inning and preserve the Rays' lead.

"Matt was good. ... He put himself in a jam a little bit but found a way to get through it, giving up only one run," Cash said.

Tampa Bay also had a chance with the bases loaded -- starter Albert Suarez intentionally walked Longoria to load the bases in the fifth, then was relieved by recent call-up Steven Okert, who got Morrison to pop up to center to end the inning.

The Giants had another chance to tie the score in the seventh when Brown doubled to lead off the inning. He advanced to third with two out, but reliever Xavier Cedeno got Panik to pop out to left field to end the inning.

NOTES: The Rays and Giants wore throwback uniforms as part of the Turn Back the Clock promotion. The Giants wore their 1978 road uniforms, with orange jerseys and white pants, while the Rays wore a "fauxback" uniform, with yellow lettering on a dark blue jersey with light blue pants. ... When Rays shortstop Brad Miller hit a home run with two out and two strikes in the ninth on Friday, it was only the second time this season in major-league baseball that a complete-game shutout was thwarted one strike shy of completion. It also happened May 17, when the Cubs' Jason Heyward hit a home run off Milwaukee's Chase Anderson. ... Giants starter Albert Suarez signed with the Rays when he was 16 in 2006 and was a minor-leaguer in the Rays system until he was released after the 2014 season.