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Lowry, Giants benefit from Cardinals' poor defense

Jul 7, 2007 - 4:45 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Noah Lowry recorded his first road victory in over two months, but Barry Bonds failed to move any closer to Hank Aaron's career home run mark.

Lowry pitched six effective innings and the San Francisco Giants scored three unearned runs en route to a 4-3 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series on Friday.

Lowry (9-6), who had not won away from AT&T Park since April 25 against the Los Angeles Dodgers, gave up just one run and four hits with five walks and five strikeouts.

"Any victory is a positive," Lowry said. "I was thinking about my numbers on at home vs. my numbers on the road. I don't really have an answer to why that's happened, but I'm just happy to get a win."

Kevin Correia pitched two perfect innings and, after Brad Hennessey gave up a walk and a hit in the ninth, Jack Taschner yielded a two-run single by Chris Duncan. But Randy Messenger came on to record the final out and his first career save.

Bonds, who remains five home runs shy of breaking Aaron's all-time home run record of 755, saw his 10-game hitting streak end. The 42-year-old went 0-for-1 with three walks and a run scored.

"Every time up there, (Bonds) had at least a strike," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He has a real good strike zone. If he wants to take the walk, he'll take the walk, we'll never throw the ball down the middle to him. He had pitches to hit."

Dave Roberts, Ray Durham and Bonds all scored on center fielder So Taguchi's fielding error in the fifth inning to give the Giants a 4-0 lead.

After Cardinals starter Mike Maroth (0-1) walked Bonds to load the bases, Bengie Molina blasted a fly ball to center field, which Taguchi misplayed. The ball bounced off Taguchi's glove, allowing all three runners to score and Molina to reach second.

"Off the bat, I thought I (had a home run)," Molina said. "I thought (Taguchi) had a chance. I knew it wasn't out for sure, but I hit it pretty good."

"My jump was a little bit late," Taguchi said. "The ball hit my glove, I could have caught it. It was kind of tough to see the ball. I thought the wall was very close."

It was the most costly of three errors made by St. Louis.

An RBI single by Durham put the Giants on the board in the first and placed runners on the corners for Bonds, who lined into a double play.

Maroth worked five innings, allowing four runs - one earned - and five hits with four walks. The 29-year-old lefthander has failed to record a win in three starts since being acquired from the Detroit Tigers.

"I think I got behind a lot of hitters," Maroth said. "Walking four hitters in five innings, that's not the way to be successful. I'm a guy who has to get ahead of hitters and I didn't do it, not as well as I know I can."

Omar Vizquel singled twice for the Giants. He has 2,532 career hits as a shortstop, tying him with Luis Aparicio for most at the position since 1957.

"It's really special to me," Vizquel said. "Everyone recognizes me as a defensive shortstop, no one talks about the offensive numbers. I've been around the game a long time and getting as many hits as one of my heroes, one of the guys in the Hall of Fame, it's pretty special."