Wells Works Well for First Paycheck, Beating Cardinals

Terry Wells stood outside the Dodgers’ dugout at Busch Stadium late Monday with a pen and a baseball card and tried to sign his autograph. And tried. And tried.

“You’ve got to excuse me,” he shouted to the fan in the box seats after a five-second name took nearly a minute. “I’m a little shaky right now.”

Considering Wells had just cooly led the Dodgers to a 5-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, nobody blamed him. On the night he received his first major league paycheck, the 26-year-old career minor leaguer also picked up his first major league victory.

He said he will sign the game ball and give it to his wife. He also will sign the paycheck and give it to his wife.

“You know wives,” he said.

The Dodgers have yet another reason to celebrate Monday’s victory, their fourth in five games since the All-Star break. By holding the Cardinals to four hits in 6 1/3 innings, the hard-throwing Wells became the first Orel Hershiser-replacement starter to win since Hershiser underwent shoulder surgery April 27.

In nine starts before Monday, four No. 5 pitchers had gone 0-6 with a 7.91 earned-run average. The Dodgers had won one of those nine games. Those pitchers included Wells, Tim Crews and current Albuquerque Dukes John Wetteland and Mike Maddux.

Many Dodgers think those nine starts may have been the biggest factor in the team’s losing season. As Monday’s victory pulls them to within one game of .500, they truly hope Wells has arrived . . . and that it’s not too late.

“It is tough to say anybody could fill Orel’s shoes,” catcher Mike Scioscia said. “But we have obviously expected more production out of our fifth starter. . . . Today has to be a great confidence booster for Terry.”

In making his third start since being recalled from Albuquerque July 2, Wells escaped one jam and then watched Jay Howell escape another to record his third consecutive save, seventh overall.

Wells, a left-hander, was helped by a four-run sixth inning against Cardinal starter and loser Bob Tewksbury. It featured a two-run double by Scioscia, an RBI double by Hubie Brooks and another run that scored when a fly ball dropped between outfielders Wille McGee and Craig Wilson.

The Cardinals, who were booed repeatedly by the crowd of 25,405, lost for the fourth time in five games and remained in last place in the National League East.

Wells, who spent five years in the Astro minor league system before the trade, mainly because of 368 walks in 532 2/3 innings, had walked only three in 10 innings in two previous starts for the Dodgers. That earned him a third start.

He retired the first 10 Cardinals, then made a major league escape after causing a fourth-inning jam.

Wells gave up a one-out single to Ozzie Smith, the first Cardinal hit of the game. One out later, Pedro Guerrero singled up the middle. Todd Zeile doubled in a run, and out ran pitching coach Ron Perranoski.

Wells promptly threw five consecutive balls, walking Terry Pendleton to load the bases and then falling behind 1-and-0 to Jose Oquendo.

Then Wells found his legs. Oquendo took a strike and missed another, throwing his bat. Then a ball and two consecutive fouls.

Wells threw a fastball that Oquendo popped up behind home plate and into the glove of Scioscia for the third out. “I felt like, ‘OK, it’s just me and you,’ ” Wells said of his duel with Oquendo.”I decided to go right at him.”

Wells said he threw only one curve to Oquendo and only because he had forgotten the count.

“I threw it on 1-and-2, but that was because I thought it was 2-and-2,” he said. “I lost a ball in there somewhere.”

The next inning he was certain of the count, retiring three Cardinals on three pitches.

He was removed from the game in the seventh with one out after walking Wilson. Jim Gott worked out of that jam, then allowed two infield singles to start the eighth inning. Enter Howell, who allowed an RBI single by Guerrero and walked Zeile to load the bases with none out.

Wells was on his mind.

“To have him do such a nice job and really show he can pitch, and then to let it away from him . . . I didn’t want to do that,” Howell said.

So, he had perhaps his finest three-batter stretch of the season, striking out Pendleton, retiring Oquendo on a foul out and striking out Wilson, who watched a curveball that, at the last instant, dropped nearly a foot.

“I didn’t think it was going to break at all,” Howell said. “Then I saw Scioscia catching it low in the strike zone and I thought, ‘Yeah, I guess it did break.’ ”

Wells was watching the action on the clubhouse television set and trying to make a decision.

“I don’t know whether to be more excited by the win or the paycheck,” he said.

Dodger Notes

Sources have confirmed Dodger scouts were at Sunday’s 3-2 victory by Detroit pitcher Steve Searcy over visiting Texas. Searcy, whom the Dodgers are hoping to acquire for Kirk Gibson, pitched a shutout for 5 2/3 innings before allowing two runs in his first major league victory this season. Detroit scouts following the Dodgers have also been pleased, recently reporting to the Tigers that Gibson appears healthy. . . . Even though it was one of his few nights off on the road during the season, Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda spent Sunday night in Busch Stadium here sitting behind home plate for the game between the Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. He was approached by so many autograph seekers, Cardinal officials offered to move him to a private box upstairs, but he refused. “What’s wrong with signing autographs?” Lasorda said. “I’m the one who’s honored by it.” . . .Former Cardinal Julian Javier visited the Dodger clubhouse Monday and was welcomed as a member of the family. He is the father of Dodger outfielder Stan Javier. . . . Perhaps the hardest hit in the Dodgers’ 5-1 loss to Chicago Sunday occured when losing pitcher Tim Belcher smashed a bat against the dugout wall after one of his poor innings.