Wells’ depth impresses his new team

NEW YORK -- David Wells had always thrived in situations like this.

The Mets had loaded the bases in the fifth inning Sunday, and the hostile crowd at Shea Stadium was using its raucous energy and leather lungs to squeeze a hit out of Moises Alou’s lively bat.

Wells has always loved those confrontations, and he has defused that pressure more often than not in a career that has spanned 21 seasons and included a World Series title.

But this time, the 44-year-old left-hander didn’t have a routine to fall back on. Nor did he have a comfort level built over months of solid outings.

This was his first start with the Dodgers, his first appearance since a seven-run outing for the Padres on Aug. 6 had seemed to turn Boomer into a bust.

After being released by his hometown team, Wells spent three weeks surfing, golfing and doubting himself.

“I basically thought I was done for my career,” he said.

Apparently, he’s not done.

His performance against Alou on a hot New York summer night was an instant classic. It blended art and craft in three well-chosen and well-executed pitches, a gritty effort Wells wasn’t sure he had within him but one that went a long way toward launching the Dodgers to a 6-2 victory -- and toward reestablishing Wells’ shaken confidence.

“It felt weird out there, but I’ve been doing this for a long time,” he said after a five-inning, two-run effort that resulted in his first victory since July 16.

“It was a big game. Gimme the ball. It was a big night, national TV.

“I wasn’t expecting to do this well. I was just trying to keep the team in the ballgame and just mixing it up.”

Wells had benefited from Mets baserunning blunders in the first and third innings, but he put himself under duress in the fifth inning.

He had tweaked his right leg in the top of the inning while running to first on a surprise bunt, forcing him to sidestep on that leg when he returned to the mound. But he easily got the first two outs in the bottom of the fifth, and wasn’t concerned.

Then, Lastings Milledge beat out a grounder to short, and Wells walked David Wright and Carlos Beltran, each on five pitches. That brought up Alou, who had singled in the fourth.

“I was going to throw the whole at-bat curveballs. I made up my mind,” Wells said.

Catcher Mike Lieberthal put down the sign for a curve. Alou fouled it off, a pitch measured at 69 miles per hour.

“I threw him a curveball and I just had a good feel for it,” Wells said.

A second curveball, also in the high 60s, turned into another foul ball, this up the third-base line. Lieberthal signaled for another curve. Wells obliged, keeping it low and again about 69 mph.

“I just had to throw it,” Wells said. “You get ahead in the count, you don’t want to throw him a strike for it.

“It was probably my best curveball of the night. It broke big and it landed short.”

Alou missed it, badly. End of inning. End of Mets flurry.

End of Wells’ Dodgers debut too. He walked off having thrown 73 pitches, 48 for strikes. None was as sweet as that last pitch, which preserved a 3-2 lead and earned him the respect of the teammates he had so recently met.

“His best curveball tonight was the third one he threw to Alou,” Lieberthal said.

“He looked good out there. He surprised me for a guy who’s been out three weeks.”

Manager Grady Little said he had expected a “competitive” performance from the man signed to fill the Grand Canyon-like void in the back end of the Dodgers’ starting rotation, but he wasn’t sure how long Wells might last. The Alou at-bat, Little said, was “what we brought him in for and that’s what he did a nice job of.

“I think it’s been a long time since he’s overpowered anybody, to tell you the truth. He just knows how to pitch.”

It seemed as if he had forgotten when he was strafed for seven earned runs in three of his last four starts for San Diego and for five runs in the other outing. His earned-run average was an ugly 5.54, his record 5-8 when he was released by the Padres.

“I can’t really fault them, because I wasn’t pitching well,” he said.

He made some adjustments to his delivery, determined to stay back and remind himself to slow down when things threatened to get away from him.

For one night, at least, he succeeded, and in the process he kept the Dodgers 6 1/2 games behind the division-leading Diamondbacks and 3 1/2 behind the Padres for the wild-card spot.

“I’m up for the challenge,” Wells said. “It was a lot of fun just getting thrown into the mix.”

He will get thrown back in again soon. “I can guarantee you this,” Little said. “It won’t be three weeks before he pitches again. More like five days.”

That’s fine with Wells. His golf game and surfing form had been improving, but the pitching mound is where he’d rather be. “You come out and you get another chance, another opportunity,” he said. “New life out here.”

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Helene Elliott can be reached at helene.elliott@latimes.com. To read previous columns by Elliott, go to latimes.com/elliott.