LOS ANGELES -- Noah Lowry is starting to show the form he displayed last season as a rookie, when no one could beat him.

The San Francisco Giants' left-hander took a two-hitter into the eighth inning and got plenty of offensive support from Ray Durham and Michael Tucker to beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 6-0 Friday night and send the defending NL West champions to their sixth straight loss.

Lowry (6-9) was 6-0 in 2004 with a 3.48 ERA in 14 starts. He was 1-5 in his first six outings this season before he started to turn it around. He has allowed no more than four runs in 17 of his 19 starts.

"Last year is behind me," Lowry said. "I've struggled early on this year and I'm just trying to battle back and put some wins together. Things are starting to come around, so I'm excited."

Lowry struck out seven and walked three -- two in the eighth when he was lifted with one out. He threw 73 of his 110 pitches for strikes.

"I had three pitches working tonight that I was able to locate and get ahead of guys with, and that made the difference," Lowry said. "I don't want to sit here and say I was running out of gas, because I felt OK and my arm felt fine. But my rhythm started to go a little bit."

The Dodgers' only hits were Jason Phillips' two-out double in the fourth and Jason Repko's two-out single in the fifth. Lowry had a much easier time without having to face Dodgers RBI leader Jeff Kent, who was scratched because of a bruised left wrist. Kent was injured in Thursday night's 4-3 loss while trying to backhand a throw to first base by pitcher D.J. Houlton.

Durham had season highs with four hits and four RBI, Tucker went 4-for-5 with a leadoff homer in the first inning and Pedro Feliz also homered for the Giants, who can overtake the third-place Dodgers with a victory on Saturday.

"That's the objective. You've got to take it one team at a time," said Tucker, who also made a diving catch of Oscar Robles' sinking liner in the eighth to start an inning-ending double play. "This is our opportunity to get back into the mix of things, so mainly what we're trying to do is be as consistent as possible and keep playing good baseball."

Getting All-Star shortstop Cesar Izturis back from the disabled list couldn't prevent the Dodgers from slipping 10 games under .500 and 8½ games behind San Diego in the division standings -- their low point of the season in both categories. They have dropped 21 of their last 28 games due to a slew of injuries that have landed 12 different players on the DL since April 20, when they were 12-2.

"It's been kind of a weird go of it, I guess. We just need to get our studs back and we should be fine," Dodgers outfielder Jayson Werth said. "It's not like we're a bad team. We just haven't been playing very well."

Scott Eyre pitched 1 2/3 innings to complete the two-hitter and has not allowed an earned run in 19 1/3 career innings against the Dodgers.

Derek Lowe (5-10) allowed six runs and 10 hits in 4 2/3 innings, the fourth time this season that he has given up double digits in hits. The right-hander, who signed a four-year, $36 million contract in January after helping the Boston Red Sox win the World Series last year, is 0-5 with a 6.34 ERA in seven starts since beating Detroit 5-3 on June 6.

The last time Lowe pitched at Dodger Stadium, he gave up solo homers to three of his first seven batters in a 7-5 loss against Arizona on July 2. This time, two of the first six Giants hitters cleared the fence.

Tucker, whose four hits were a season high, drove a 2-2 pitch halfway up the pavilion in right-center for his fourth homer of the season -- ending a drought of 135 at-bats since his previous home run on April 17 at Colorado. It was his fourth career leadoff homer and first with San Francisco.

Feliz made it 2-0 in the second when he hit a 2-1 pitch over the auxiliary scoreboard in left field for his 12th homer and fourth against the Dodgers. It was the 17th allowed this season by Lowe, matching his career high from 2003 with Boston.

"I stunk," Lowe said. "I feel good, but you can't ignore the fact that you're struggling. I've always said the hitters will tell you how good your stuff is. There's something going on, especially when you feel fine and give up eight home runs in three games."

The Giants increased the margin to 5-0 in the third when Durham cleared the bases with a two-out double inside first base before getting thrown out in a rundown between second and third. Durham came through again in the fifth with another two-out double that chased Lowe.

Notes

Durham tied a Giants franchise record with three doubles. ... RHP Franquelis Osoria was optioned to Triple-A Las Vegas to make room on the 25-man roster for Izturis, who missed 11 games with a strained right hamstring that prevented him from playing in his first All-Star Game.