No Luck Is Needed for Valdes

Dodger pitcher Ismael Valdes couldn’t find his lucky T-shirt before Wednesday night’s game against the Colorado Rockies.

Lucky for Valdes that he lost it.

Valdes, who had lost his last three decisions, changed his luck, giving up four hits in 8 1/3 innings as the Dodgers defeated the Rockies for the second time in three games, 2-0, before a paid crowd of 30,963 at Dodger Stadium.

“He should have burned that lucky T-shirt about three months ago,” said Dodger catcher Mike Piazza, who hit a two-run first-inning home run. “If that’s a lucky T-shirt, there are no lucky T-shirts.”

Manager Bill Russell was booed as he walked to the dugout after after he pulled Valdes, who registered eight strikeouts, for reliever Scott Radinsky with one out in the ninth inning and a runner on first.

Valdes (4-8) got a standing ovation as he walked to the dugout.

Russell said the boos didn’t bother him.

“I wanted him to get a shutout,” Russell said. “I wanted him to get a complete game just like the fans, but I had to make a decision. You had a .400 hitter coming up there and a left-hander [Radinsky] that had been in these situations before. It turned out right.”

Radinsky struck out Larry Walker, who came into the game batting .411.

With closer Todd Worrell still recovering from stomach flu, Russell brought in Darren Dreifort to face Andres Galarraga, but Dreifort walked Galarraga and Russell went to Darren Hall to face Ellis Burks, who had two doubles and two RBIs in Tuesday night’s 6-2 victory over the Dodgers.

Hall struck out Burks on a check swing to register his second National League save.

“He stayed away from the walks tonight and made good pitches up in the strike zone,” Piazza said of Valdes.

Valdes said his confidence never wavered during his losing streak.

“I know what I can do,” he said. “It was nice to receive that kind of reaction from the fans.”

Valdes threw 108 pitches, 77 for strikes, in his longest outing of the season.

“Two pitchers on that ballclub that we really struggle against are [Hideo] Nomo and Valdes,” Colorado Manager Don Baylor said. “Valdes with his fastball beat us all night. He came right at us.”

The Dodgers trail San Francisco by six games and the Rockies by 2 1/2 games in the NL West. But the Dodgers play their next four games against the San Diego Padres, who have won their last six games against them, including the final three games of last season to deny the Dodgers the NL West title.

Valdes retired 18 of the first 19 batters he faced, 14 in a row after Dante Bichette’s two-out second-inning double. Walker got a one-out seventh inning double, but Valdes struck out Galarraga and got Burks to pop out to center.

Valdes, who gave up a one-out eighth-inning single to Jeff Reed, got a standing ovation after getting Walt Weiss to hit into a force play and striking out pinch-hitter John Vander Wal.

Valdes didn’t walk a batter for only the third time in 15 starts.

The Dodgers, without starter Ramon Martinez, desperately needed a well-pitched game after Pedro Astacio lost his seventh consecutive game Tuesday night.

Valdes even got a fifth-inning leadoff bunt single.

Piazza, who has batted .433 with three home runs and 11 RBIs in his last 17 games, hit a 2-1 pitch over the center-field fence off John Burke (2-2) in the first inning for his 13th homer to drive in Brett Butler.

But the Dodgers, who had at least one runner in scoring position with less than one out in six of the next seven innings, failed to add to the lead.