Bonds Hits Homer and Giants Win, 5-0

Noah Lowry already realized he had found a nice groove, then Barry Bonds splashed a home run into McCovey Cove to give the left-hander a lead.

Bonds hit his 725th home run Monday night, moving the San Francisco slugger within 30 of tying home run king Hank Aaron’s record of 755 and leading the Giants to a 5-0 win over Arizona.

Lowry pitched a two-hitter for his first complete game of the year and third of his career for the Giants, who moved out of last place or a tie for last in the NL West for the first time since July 31. He walked one, struck out six and recorded his first shutout since Aug. 3, 2004, against Cincinnati.

“Any time Barry hits a home run it’s part of history and everybody likes to see that,” Lowry said. “It takes a little pressure off the pitcher to have a lead.”

Bonds, who flied out to right ending the first, sent the first pitch he saw from Livan Hernandez into the water beyond the right-field wall with two out in the fourth for his 17th home run this season. The solo shot gave the Giants a 1-0 lead and helped Lowry (6-7) end a five-start winless stretch.

It was the first splash hit of the season for the 42-year-old Bonds -- and the first by any Giants player. There have been 41 splash hits in the ballpark’s seven-year history and 33 of those are by Bonds, who last did it on Sept. 18, 2005, against the Dodgers.