SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — A day after a wild outing, Giants pitcher Noah Lowry was diagnosed with tendinitis in his left wrist today and sent back to San Francisco to see a hand specialist.

The lefty is expected to be inactive for at least three or four days. Yesterday, he walked nine of the 12 batters he faced against Texas.

"It's frustrating," Lowry said. "You go out there and you want to compete at the level that you know you're capable of competing at and sometimes your body doesn't allow you to do that. At this level you have to be right physically. Right now it's not."

Lowry has struggled with his control in both of his exhibition starts this year. In his first start against the Cubs on Feb. 28, the 27-year-old walked three walks and sailed two pitches to the backscreen while giving up three runs in 1 1-3 innings.

Against the Rangers, he walked seven batters in the first inning and 40 pitches, only four of them for strikes. Lowry left after walking the first two batters in the second inning.

After consulting with manager Bruce Bochy and team trainers, Lowry met with Dr. Gary Waslewski on Tuesday in Scottsdale.

Waslewski, an orthopedic surgeon for the Phoenix Coyotes of the NHL and a consultant for the Chicago White Sox, ran a series of tests that revealed Lowry's injury.

Later in the afternoon Lowry boarded a plane for the Bay Area and was scheduled to meet with Dr. Gordon Brody, the Giants' hand specialist. He is expected to return to Arizona tomorrow.

Lowry said the wrist problem has been bothering him since early in spring training. He also bristled at talk comparing his situation with that of one-time St. Louis pitcher Rick Ankiel.

Ankiel had a meltdown in Game 1 of the 2000 NL playoffs against Atlanta when he walked four batters and threw five wild pitches in the third inning. He never recovered and has since been moved to the outfield for the Cardinals.

Lowry, who went 14-8 with a 3.92 ERA in 2007 before a bone spur in his left elbow cut his season short in late August, took exception to the comparison.

"You're coming now and you're questioning my character," he said. "To question my character is a slap in the face. But if that's the way that it goes, that's the way that it goes."

Lowry will take anti-inflammatories and wear a splint on his left thumb for the next few days. He will not do any throwing, making it almost certain he'll skip his next scheduled start on Saturday.

"They feel by the weekend, if we stay away from any kind of use with my wrist, that hopefully we can turn the corner on this," Lowry said. "All I know is it's a tendinitis issue and I can tell you that it's giving me trouble gripping a baseball. On a scale of 1-to-10, I would say it's closer to a one and a two.

Lowry did not rule out taking a cortisone shot if his current treatments fail.

"That's another option down the road," he said. "It's not something that I want to do but at the same time, if we go a couple days and that anti-inflammatory thing's not working and the splint's not working, that would be an option."