SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants and Milwaukee Brewers generated plenty of trivia Friday night. But nothing about the game was trivial to Noah Lowry, the beneficiary of San Francisco's 11-6 triumph that included Barry Bonds' 761st home run.

Lowry (14-7) reached a career-high victory total despite surrendering six runs and a personal-worst 12 hits in five innings. The Brewers rocked him immediately by scoring three first-inning runs and had six by the third inning.

But the Giants rescued Lowry with a six-run first that featured Omar Vizquel's three-run double. And although Lowry's two-run homer broke a 6-6 tie in the third, he preferred to distribute praise instead of absorb it.

"That was the definition of a team effort," Lowry said, referring to the Giants' ability to counter Milwaukee's early punch. "Our guys showed a lot of heart tonight."

The same could be said of Lowry, who won his fifth consecutive decision and improved to 9-3 at AT&T Park. He appeared destined for a premature shower when he struck out Corey Hart on a 3-2 changeup with the bases loaded to end the third inning. Lowry already had thrown 71 pitches by then, but he survived the next two innings to qualify for the decision.

Manager Bruce Bochy wanted it that way.

"He's leading the staff in wins and I wanted to give him a chance to regroup," Bochy said. "There's a guy who's done a great job for us. He's not going to be sharp every time he goes out there. You need to learn to pitch without your best stuff, and he did tonight. I thought he made a good adjustment the last couple of innings."

Lowry deeply appreciated Bochy's faith in him. "And I told him that as soon as I came out," Lowry said. "He very easily could have taken me out of the game [earlier] and that says a lot about the confidence he has in me."

Multiple aspects of Lowry's performance prompted the Giants' media relations staff to plunge into its archives. He became the first Giants pitcher to allow as many hits as he did and still win since Mark Gardner yielded 13 in a 15-4 victory on June 5, 1996, at Cincinnati. Lowry, who contributed an RBI single to the big first inning, also combined with Matt Cain to form the first pair of Giants pitchers to homer in back-to-back games since Livan Hernandez and Joe Nathan did so on June 28-29, 2000, at Colorado.

"I was just happy to make contact there," Lowry said of the 1-0 pitch he swatted off Chris Capuano (5-11), who tied a franchise record for consecutive losing decisions. "It happened to come back over the plate and I just ran into it."

Hours after Bochy acknowledged the need to use the Giants' younger players more frequently, their all-veteran lineup excelled -- particularly the 40-year-old Vizquel, who short-hopped the right-field wall with his first-inning hit off Milwaukee starter Claudio Vargas. Vizquel's two-out drive, which came on a full-count fastball after he fell behind 0-2, erased Milwaukee's 3-2 lead.

"Omar's hit turned the whole game around," Bochy said.

"We've been terrible this year hitting with guys in scoring position. I haven't been good with that," said Vizquel, who's actually batting .383 in those situations with fewer than two outs but just .182 with two outs. "I tried to be patient and get my pitch."

So did others. Kevin Frandsen, who entered the game after Ray Durham mildly strained his left hamstring -- which Bochy said might shelve him for two or three days -- belted a sixth-inning homer, his third in his last seven at-bats. And, of course, there was Bonds, who rapped a first-inning RBI single before extending his all-time record by one-hopping McCovey Cove with one out in the fourth.

Bonds' offense salvaged an otherwise forgettable evening for him. He moved ponderously in left field and misplayed Joe Dillon's RBI single for an error in the first inning. In his final at-bat in the sixth, his infield bloop up the middle became a double play when he didn't run out the ball, which J.J. Hardy let drop.

"Smart play on their part," Bochy said. "He learned that's why you run when you go down the line. They caught him."

Overall, though, the Giants ran away.