Giants could be without top winner Lowry until April

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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- San Francisco Giants pitcher Noah Lowry will have surgery to repair an injured left throwing wrist and is expected to be out until the end of April.

Lowry was the Giants' top winner with a 14-8 record last season. The lefty had trouble throwing strikes this spring and the team sent him back to the Bay Area to be examined by a hand specialist.

The Giants said Thursday that Lowry was diagnosed with exertional compartment syndrome. According to MayoClinic.com, it is "an exercise-induced neuromuscular condition that causes pain, swelling and sometimes even disability in affected muscles of the legs or arms" and seems to affect primarily athletes in their 20s.

"The thing we wanted to do was identify the problem and it looks like we've done that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Despite it's not great news, it is good news to have found out what's going on, what the problem is."

Lowry could resume throwing in two or three weeks, but Bochy acknowledged the lefty probably won't be available to pitch until the end of April.

"This is something that I don't know enough about it to know how rare it is, but you don't hear about it a lot," Bochy said. "It's not like this is a common occurrence in baseball players." The 27-year-old Lowry struggled with his control during his first game at spring training, then walked nine of 12 batters against Texas on Monday.

Lowry was later diagnosed with tendinitis in his wrist, and went for a series of tests in San Francisco.

Lowry was projected to be third or fourth in the Giants rotation. Without him, San Francisco will look at right-hander Kevin Correia and lefties Jonathan Sanchez and Patrick Misch.

"We're going to sit down and talk about what our options are," Bochy said.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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