CINCINNATI — Johnny Cueto put on one of those rare displays that defies words in his major-league pitching debut for the Cincinnati Reds.

So leave it up to wordsmith Kent Mercker, the man who works the New York Times Sunday crossword puzzle in about an hour, to come up with what Cueto should say to the media.

"Me throw hard, throw strikes," said Mercker as Cueto flashed a bright, boyish smile after pitching his team to a 3-2 victory in a dazzling manner over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Cueto retired the first 15 before losing a perfect game, no-hitter and shutout on one misplaced fastball — a leadoff home run in the sixth by Justin Upton.

Upton said he faced Cueto in the Class A Midwest League two years ago when he was with South Bend and Cueto was with Dayton.

"He is the same guy with a little better command," said Upton. "He was unbelievable two years ago. He has great stuff and pounds the strike zone."

The home run never fazed Cueto, and that's what impressed manager Dusty Baker the most — Cueto returned to perfection. In seven innings, he gave up just that one hit, no walks and struck out 10.

Major League records revert to 1900 and there is no report of any Reds rookie striking out as many as 10 in his major-league debut.

Cueto touched 97 miles an hour on the radar gun and kept hitters flailing by mixing in the changeup taught to him by Mario Soto, who served as his interpreter after the game.

Did he have the jitters? "No." Was he confident? "Very." What did he think before the game? "That I'd throw seven shut out innings." What did he think after he gave up the home run? "Go back to throwing the way I've been throwing."

Baker has seen pretty much everything in this game, but said he would have to go back to when he played for the Los Angeles Dodgers and a rookie named Fernando Valenzuela surfaced, "To Fernando-mania when it was at fever pitch."

Baker said it was impressive to hear Cueto's teammates in the dugout saying, "We haven't seen anything like this in a long time." Said Baker, "They haven't seen a lot of things that they are going to see from this young man."

Cueto struck out the first batter he faced, Chris Young, then was an automaton.

"He was hitting that low and away fastball and mixing in his slider and an occasional changeup," said Baker. "He threw the ball as well as anybody can throw the ball. The way he threw the ball today has no age to it."

Baker was impressed by two things — the zero walks more than the 10 strikeouts and the way he shrugged off the home run.

"He has the stuff to strike people out, but a lot of times the fact a team hasn't seen a guy attributes to a lot of strikeouts. The fact he had no walks is what is most impressive because he wasn't very sharp his last couple of spring starts.

"I liked best the fact that giving up the home run and the no-hitter didn't affect him," said Baker. "I've seen a lot of guys give up the no-hitter and lose it because the no-hitter is what they wanted."

It seemed fitting that new closer Francisco Cordero, one of Cueto's best friends, recorded his first save for the Reds, a 1-2-3 ninth, to preserve Cueto's victory.

"I didn't say anything to him today," said Cordero. "I just let him do his thing. He's young and I didn't want to put anything into his head. Didn't want him thinking too much.

"it was amazing, unbelievable, watching him on TV," said Cordero. "Everything downhill, everything a strike. Even the home run wasn't a bad pitch. That guy just put a good swing on it. Everything Cordero threw was amazing. Cueto was so good, people don't even notice my save — not even me — but I just wanted to get those last three outs so I could give him the ball and his first victory."