NEW YORK (AP) -- While pleased with his accomplishment, Fred McGriff was sorry it didn't do more for his team.

"I came into the year with 390 and I'm glad to get over it," McGriff said after hitting his 400th career home run Friday night in the Tampa Bay Devil Rays' 5-3 loss to the New York Mets.

In the teams' interleague opener, McGriff hit a two-run drive off Glendon Rusch (3-4) in the sixth inning that gave the Devil Rays a 3-2 lead.

Todd Zeile answered McGriff with a three-run homer in the bottom of the inning off Rick White (1-4).

"Especially since he's pitched better than his record indicates, I'm glad to have helped Glendon get that support," Zeile said of his l0th homer.

Mets catcher Todd Pratt, who also homered, admired McGriff's drive over the center-field fence.

"It was sweet-looking, wasn't it?" Pratt said.

Rusch wasn't as pleased.

"We were trying to get in on him and I didn't get it in far enough," the pitcher said. "I left it over the middle. He hits the ball well there."

McGriff became the majors' 31st player to reach 400 career homers. He drove in Tampa Bay's other run with an RBI single in the fourth.

McGriff has 10 career home runs at Shea Stadium.

"It would have been nice if it could have stood up to win the game," Devil Rays manager Larry Rothschild said. "If you hit 400 home runs in the major leagues, you've accomplished something. I know 500 is a standard but 400 says a lot about consistency."

Zeile, who has four home runs in his last six games, helped New York improve to 5-2 against Tampa Bay.

Rusch allowed three runs and six hits in six-plus innings, striking out six and walking none. Pat Mahomes relieved after Mike DiFelice's leadoff single in the seventh and later escaped a bases-loaded jam when Gerald Williams flied out.

Armando Benitez, the Mets' fourth pitcher, got three outs for his 14th save in 15 chances. After a pair of walks, Benitez struck out pinch-hitter Greg Vaughn -- normally Tampa Bay's designated hitter -- on a 3-2 pitch for the final out.

Devil Rays starter Albie Lopez allowed two runs and three hits in five inning.

White relieved Lopez at the start of the sixth and gave up a double to Edgardo Alfonzo and a walk to Robin Ventura before Zeile's homer.

Rain delayed the game 1 hour, 22 minutes in the middle of the third inning. When play resumed, Jay Payton homered on the second pitch from Lopez for a 1-0 lead.

After McGriff's RBI single tied it in the fourth, Pratt put New York ahead 2-1 in the fifth with an opposite-field homer, his sixth of the season and fourth in five games.

Game notes
After Zeile's homer, White hit Pratt with the next pitch. Pratt went straight to first base. ... Mike Piazza was sent to a Manhattan hospital prior to the game when he said he felt "sluggish". Piazza, hit by Gary Sheffield's bat on a backswing Wednesday night at Los Angeles, had a CAT scan, then was cleared to play. He did not appear in the game. ... Mets pitcher Mike Hampton was calling out stations on a No. 7 train before the game as part of a MasterCard promotion with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority to commemorate this year's Subway Series against the Yankees.