updated 1:53 a.m. ET Aug. 23, 2005

SAN FRANCISCO - Noah Lowry took a celebratory shaving cream pie to the face, one of few such hazings directed toward the pitcher this season.

Perhaps it was a tribute to the coming of age of his curveball.

Lowry worked into the ninth inning to win his fourth straight start and become a 10-game winner in his first full big league season, and Moises Alou hit a three-run homer to lead the San Francisco Giants over the Philadelphia Phillies 5-0 on Monday night. The Phillies entered play with a narrow lead in the NL wild-card race, but fell a half-game behind Houston after the Astros won 6-2 in San Diego. 

“Pretty good lefty, huh?” manager Felipe Alou said as he sat down in his office chair. “Every time he goes to pitch, we feel like we’re going to win the game.”

J.T. Snow hit an RBI double, Michael Tucker doubled among his two hits and Ray Durham singled twice as the Giants won for the fifth time in eight games — certainly happy to be home after a grueling season-high 13-game road trip through Atlanta, Florida, Cincinnati and St. Louis.

Lowry (10-11), utilizing his improved curveball at every opportunity, allowed five hits with one walk and six strikeouts in 8 2-3 innings and also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the sixth. He left after allowing Bobby Abreu’s infield single.

Appearing slightly disappointed to be removed after he threw a season-high 128 pitches, Lowry tipped his cap to the crowd, which booed Alou’s decision. LaTroy Hawkins struck out Pat Burrell looking to end the game.

“Any time you go out there and you’ve got a shutout going, of course you want to finish it,” said Lowry, his eyes burning from the shaving cream. “It was the right move. I still have seven starts left and I want to be ready in five days. ... It’s a tough situation for him, but he made the right choice.”

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Moises Alou, the Giants’ lone All-Star this year, connected for his 14th homer of the season on the first pitch from Jon Lieber in the third, a shot to left on a misty Bay Area night.

“I wasn’t seeing the ball as well as I wanted to today. I got lucky on that one,” Moises Alou said.

Philadelphia managed little offense against Lowry as it began a crucial 12-game, 14-day road trip, the club’s longest of the season.

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