Noah

Lowry

The Red Sox may have also asked for Matt Cain or Merkin Valdez in a Roberts treade. The Giants may look for a less costly alternative like Detroit’s Alex Sanchez or Pittsburgh’s Rob Mackowiak.

It could be that order, as Alou wants to go righty-lefty. Of course, putting Williams fifth and Schmidt first still leaves righties going back-to-back, but at least it won’t look that way on paper.

Lowry was at 106 pitches after seven innings, so he wasn’t coming back out for the eighth anyway. The Giants will have to hope this is nothing.

Tyler Walker spoiled the shutout when he gave up Morgan Ensberg’s two-run homer in the ninth inning. Lowry is 7-11 with a 4.36 ERA. The Giants were hoping for more from him, but with the exception of a couple of poor Coors Field starts, he hasn’t given up more than four earned runs in an outing this year.

He allowed four hits, walked three and struck out six. Things started to get difficult in the eighth, but Chris Aguila hooked a potential homer just a few feet foul before eventually striking out, and after Juan Pierre and Luis Castillo reached, Jeremy Accardo took over and got Miguel Cabrera to ground into an inning-ending double play on his first pitch. Lowry has a start at Cincinnati coming up next. If he does fairly well then, he’ll be worth picking up in shallow mixed leagues. The Giants have a pretty easy schedule over the final six weeks.

It’s time to grab Lowry in mixed leagues. The Giants have a pretty easy schedule the rest of the way, and Lowry has allowed just the two runs in 22 2/3 innings this month.

He was removed from Wednesday’s start in the ninth inning with a blister on his index finger, but said after the game he’d be ready to go on Monday. We still don’t think that’s a lock because he pitched for four innings as the blister developed on Wednesday. Watch for more news on Sunday.

''He pitched four innings with that blister developing, but he kept going back and going back,’' manager Felipe Alou said. ''We asked him if he wanted to come out, and he said, ‘No, I’ll just keep icing it and going back.’'' Lowry doesn’t expect to miss any time. ''It’s nothing serious,’' he said. ''It’ll just take a couple of days to heal, and I’ll be ready in five days.’'

Lowry credited a secret remedy provided by Armando Benitez for treating his ailment. ''Part of it includes limes. That’s all I can tell you,’' Lowry said, explaining that lime juice’s acid has healing properties. He should be fine to use for tomorrow.

Rockies starter Jason Jennings allowed one run in seven innings, and the Giants couldn’t score off the bullpen in a 2-1 loss in 11 innings. Has the Giants been able to push a second run across, Lowry could have pitched his first complete game since 2004. He struck out six and walked two while throwing 121 pitches tonight.