Bullpen Help for Dodgers : Baseball: They lose to Reds, 4-2, but reliever Valdes is impressive in major league debut.

Less than a week after being called up from the minors, Ismael Valdes was on the mound before a Dodger Stadium crowd of 51,736 Wednesday night, facing Kevin Mitchell of the Cincinnati Reds. The Dodgers were losing, 4-2, a score that would stand, and Valdes’ job was to hold them.

It was quite a major league debut.

Valdes, who a month ago was in double-A San Antonio, pitched a perfect eighth inning, was given the game ball, then went out and pitched a perfect ninth. He got two ground balls, three fly outs and a popup. And for his part in helping a resurging bullpen, he got high-fives.

“I was nervous, but getting the first out with the power-hitter Mitchell up made me feel more comfortable,” Valdes said.

Valdes, a 21-year old right-hander from Victoria, Mexico, has been with the Dodgers three years. He was the club’s first choice to call up when the bullpen was struggling during the last trip. He replaced left-hander Gary Wayne, who accepted an assignment at the Dodgers’ triple-A club in Albuquerque.

It was at Albuquerque where Fred Claire, executive vice president, first saw Valdes pitch, and it wasn’t by chance. Valdes, who was a starter, had pitched so well in San Antonio that Claire had brought him up to see him, and he stayed.

“He looked calm out there and got the ball over,” said Manager Tom Lasorda. “He pitched real well. It was a nice way for the boy to break in.”

Starter Kevin Gross (5-4) pitched well, holding the Reds to four runs and seven hits and striking out eight batters before being relieved by Al Osuna with two out in the seventh inning. With Lenny Harris on first base, Osuna was brought in to face the left-handed Hal Morris, who was two for four with two runs batted in. Morris popped up.

But when the next inning started, Valdes was on the mound.

Considering Todd Worrell’s performance two games ago, the bullpen struggles may finally be put to rest.

“It evens out,” Osuna said.

Hal Morris got the first hit off Gross in the fourth inning when he doubled and eventually scored on a single by Tony Fernandez, narrowing the Dodger lead to 2-1. The Reds went ahead in the fifth, 3-2, on Morris’ two-run single and scored again in the seventh when former Dodger Harris singled in Deion Sanders, who scored two of the runs in the game.

Against starter John Roper (3-0), the Dodgers scored a run in the second and another in the third. But they were held the rest of the way by Roper, who went seven innings, and reliever Jeff Brantley.

In the second, Tim Wallach doubled off the center-field wall leading off and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Eric Karros, who leads the team with six.

The Dodgers were cut short when Sanders made an apparent diving catch of a line-drive by Brett Butler for the third out of the inning with the bases loaded.

“(Sanders) made the key play of the night,” Gross said. “I was rounding second base and I thought he dropped it. It touched the ground and he rolled back up with it. It was a good acting job.”

Karros, who had a 14-game hitting streak that ended Sunday, has opened up his batting stance more, similar to the way it was when he played at double-A San Antonio, where he hit .352 with 18 home runs, the highest average in his career. During his streak, he batted .481 with three home runs, 10 runs batted in and nine runs scored, raising his batting average 36 points. He is currently batting .297.

In the third, Jose Offerman led off with a walk, went to second on a single by Mike Piazza and scored on a double by Henry Rodriguez, who went three for four.

“I was not doing well the last 15 days, but I’m here every day at 2 or 3 in the afternoon working with Reggie Smith,” said Rodriguez, who raised his batting average to .310.

Offerman, who has struggled offensively most of the season, has been hitting well recently. He has hit in six of the last eight games, with three runs, two doubles and four walks. He is second to Brett Butler in total walks on the team with 33. Butler has 44.