Comeback Fizzles : Valenzuela Allows Five Runs on Nine Hits in 5 1/3 Innings, but Brito Says He Is Pleased

Fernando Valenzuela’s second comeback, this one beginning in his native country, didn’t get off to much of a start Sunday.

The first outing in eight months for the former Dodger and Angel left-hander lasted 5 1/3 innings. He allowed five runs on nine hits with three walks and three strikeouts in Yucatan’s 11-4 victory over Jalisco in the Mexican Baseball League.

Valenzuela, the only player to be named rookie of the year and win the Cy Young Award in the same season, wasn’t hit particularly hard.

“He’s got a good location . . . only two balls were hit hard,” Dodger scout Mike Brito said. “I’m very pleased with the performance.”

Brito noted that Valenzuela’s screwball had considerable movement.

Valenzuela left trailing, 4-3, in the sixth inning after allowing a triple, double and single. Both baserunners scored.

Valenzuela threw 90 pitches, 50 for strikes.

Manager Roberto Castellon said Valenzuela told him after the fifth inning he was a little tired, but “he wanted to pitch one inning more.”

“He wasn’t at his best form, as we all know, but it was his first outing after eight months,” said Castellon, who said Valenzuela will pitch in Mexico City on Friday.

More than 10,000 fans--triple the normal turnout--were at 13,600-seat University of Guadalajara baseball stadium. They were serenaded by a mariachi-like band and exhorted by pompon girls, yet the city remained preoccupied with the April 22 pipeline explosion that killed nearly 200 people.

The team said it would donate Sunday’s gate receipts to a fund for the estimated 4,500 left homeless by the explosion. Some 1,500 homeless people and evacuees are housed next door to the stadium.

The crowd applauded warmly for Valenzuela, both when he took the mound and when he left the game.

Valenzuela pitched briefly in the Mexican League for Yucatan in 1979, finishing with a 10-12 record. He had a sensational late-season showing in 1980, throwing shutouts in both his starts with the Dodgers. He was 141-116 with the Dodgers, who released him before the 1991 season. Valenzuela, who had shoulder problems, pitched his only no-hitter in 1990, when he was 13-13.

He was signed by the Angels, but lost both of his major league starts and spent the rest of the season in the minors. When no major league team showed interest this year, he signed with Jalisco.