Dodgers win in debut of Jose De Leon, who lasts six innings

Jose De Leon felt relaxed in the hours leading up to his highly anticipated major league debut Sunday, the Dodgers right-hander sticking to his usual pregame routine with the exception of one little detour on his way from the dugout to the bullpen for warmups.

“I was pretty calm until I saw my brother go up to the rail,” De Leon, 24, said of 23-year-old Juan De Leon, one of 18 family members to travel from Puerto Rico to Los Angeles for the game. “I stopped my warmup, went up to him, hugged him and told him, ‘I did it.’ I got emotional. He almost cried.”

Four hours later, De Leon met his family, including parents Jose and Ady, outside the clubhouse with two mementos he will treasure for a lifetime: the game ball and lineup card from his first big league win, a 7-4 victory over the San Diego Padres in Dodger Stadium.

“There are no words to describe it,” said De Leon, the 15th pitcher and fifth rookie to start for the Dodgers this season. “It’s pretty special.”

De Leon did not produce a quality start, but he finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the final frame of a six-inning, four-run, six-hit effort in which he struck out nine batters and didn’t walk any.

Yasiel Puig hit a three-run homer to give the Dodgers the lead in the third inning, and Yasmani Grandal hit a game-sealing, two-run shot in the seventh to help the Dodgers push their National League West lead over San Francisco to three games.

De Leon worked quickly and efficiently, just like he did this season at triple-A Oklahoma City, where he had a 2.61 earned-run average, struck out 111 and walked 20 in 86 1/3 innings.

“His tempo is fast, it’s right at you, it’s not comfortable for hitters,” said Austin Barnes, who caught the first five innings Sunday and much of the season at Oklahoma City. “He attacks hitters. He’s always on the offensive.”

De Leon gave up a two-run homer to Yangervis Solarte in the third, and his throwing error on Travis Jankowski’s bunt single contributed to a two-run fifth, but he picked off Wil Myers at first to end that inning.

“The line score doesn’t speak to how he pitched today,” Manager Dave Roberts said. “For a young kid to make his debut in this environment says a lot about his composure and growth.”

The Dodgers have used seven different starters in seven games. De Leon’s start was the first of four straight by rookies this week in the heat of a pennant race.

“It would be nice to have five starters who throw 200 innings,” Roberts said. “But I like the way that, regardless of who toes the rubber that day, we expect to win, whether it’s a kid with one day or a guy with 12 years of service.”

The Dodgers put De Leon in line for the win by scoring twice in the fifth to take a 5-4 lead. Justin Turner drew an 11-pitch walk off starter Christian Friedrich, Puig drew a one-out walk off reliever Kevin Quackenbush, and Chase Utley and Grandal, batting for Barnes, hit run-scoring singles to right.

Puig also walked ahead of Grandal’s seventh-inning homer. He followed Turner’s walk and Adrian Gonzalez’s shift-beating bunt single with a three-run homer to left for a 3-2 lead, a shot that carried significance for the mercurial right fielder and the Dodgers.

It was Puig’s first homer since July 4 and first since his month-long exile to Oklahoma City, a demotion that was prompted by Puig’s sluggish bat, his uneven work habits and occasional lapses.

Puig had a .994 on-base-plus-slugging percentage and four homers in 19 triple-A games. If he hits, he could restore some of the faith his organization lost in him and provide a boost against left-handed pitching.

The Dodgers are 17-19 against left-handed starters and entered Sunday with a major league-worst .637 OPS against left-handers.

“If we have success against lefties,” Puig said through an interpreter, “it’s something that’s going to carry us to the postseason.”

Puig said he is “thankful for the opportunity” to return and vowed “to continue to work and take advantage of it.” As a sign of good faith, he hit a cut-off man and threw to the correct base (second) on Solarte’s sacrifice fly with runners on first and third in the fifth.

“The homer was great, but the at-bat quality he had throughout the day, hitting cut-off men, throwing to the right base, backing up … there’s a lot of things Yasiel did today to help us win a game,” Roberts said. “He’s doing everything we’ve asked.”

mike.digiovanna@latimes.com

Twitter: @MikeDiGiovanna