DODGERS REPORT : Valdes Has Quality Start, but Bullpen Can’t Finish

Ismael Valdes deserved better.

After keeping the Giants in check through six innings, the right-hander was lifted for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth with the Dodgers holding a one-run lead. The move didn’t result in any Dodger scoring and after relievers Alan Mills and Pedro Borbon gave up a combined three runs, Valdes’ strong outing--seven strikeouts, including Barry Bonds three times, four hits and three walks--was wasted.

Instead, the Dodgers’ bullpen couldn’t sustain Valdes’ effort and the Giants won, 5-4, in front of 31,676 at Dodger Stadium on Wednesday night.

Not only did Valdes, who has been criticized of late for a perceived lack of heart, perform well on the mound, he did his best to help himself at the plate. Valdes went two for two with a run scored and a run batted in after beginning the game batting .054.

The Giants, who kept the Dodgers from equaling a season high five-game winning streak, scored the winning run in the eighth.

Brent Mayne’s one-out single drove in J.T. Snow, who had singled to start the inning, to give the Giants the 5-4 lead. San Francisco loaded the bases, but reliever Matt Herges got out of it by striking out Rich Aurilia.

Robb Nen pitched a perfect ninth inning for his 37th save.

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While Davey Johnson is all for right-hander Darren Dreifort starting Sunday’s season finale at Dodger Stadium, the Dodger manager does have reservations about risking the pitcher’s health with a meaningless late-season start. Dreifort was scratched from his last scheduled start Monday, after experiencing mild stiffness in his throwing shoulder.

“I’m hoping he’s fine and even if he’s fine, do we want to do it? I don’t know this late in the year,” said Johnson, who will make a decision after watching the pitcher work out in the bullpen today. “I don’t want to have to worry about it, basically. And if he goes back out there in a game, I know he’s not going to want to come out no matter what happens.”

Dreifort, who is 13-13 with a 4.79 earned-run average, last pitched in a game on Sept. 15 and did not figure in the decision of the Dodgers’ 10-7 loss to Montreal.

“I know he really wants to finish the year pitching,” Johnson said. “And I’ll try to see it his way as much as I can. But again, what for?”

TONIGHT

DODGERS’ CHAN HO PARK (11-10, 5.54 ERA) vs. GIANTS’ LIVAN HERNANDEZ (7-11, 4.71 ERA)

Dodger Stadium, 7 p.m.

TV--Fox Sports West 2. Radio--KXTA (1150), KWKW (1330).

* Update--Park may have won five consecutive decisions--equaling a career high--but he has had a rough go of it against the Giants this season, going 0-2 with a 17.76 ERA in two starts.