Wells’ Loss Is Gain for Pirates, 11-6 : Dodgers: Candidate to become the club’s fifth starter can’t find the strike zone. His ERA increases to 7.45.

Have you ever lost something small but important? Something you had just a minute ago? Something that, when discovered missing, causes you to search and sweat until you finally threw up your hands?

Then you know what Dodger pitcher Terry Wells felt like Sunday.

Before 26,818 at Three Rivers Stadium, he lost the strike zone.

Of 17 Pittsburgh Pirate batters he faced, he walked six, leading to seven runs that overcame two Dodger leads and gave the Pirates an 11-6 victory.

“It wasn’t a long day for me, but it was certainly long for the team,” said Wells, who earlier on this trip got his first major league victory, against St. Louis.

At the time, it appeared he had conquered a career of wildness. It appeared the Dodgers had ended a search for a fifth starter.

After Sunday’s loss, which dropped Wells to 1-2 while increasing his earned-run average to 7.45, both issues remain mysteries. He walked as many in one game as he had in his previous three major league games combined.

“I just have no explanation,” said Wells, who lasted three innings that seemed like three days. “I was just missing all around the strike zone. I have no excuse.”

He appeared relaxed by three Dodger runs in the first inning off Rick Reed, and only walked Jay Bell in that inning.

But Wells started the second inning by walking Barry Bonds. One out later, he walked Don Slaught. Then he walked Rafael Belliard to load the bases.

The Dodger bullpen was already up, and worried.

Said reliever Tim Crews: “As soon as he started to struggle with throwing strikes, you just knew something bad was going to happen. You just knew it.”

After Wells struck out Reed, it happened. Wells’ first pitch to Gary Redus was launched over the center-field fence with such force, Kirk Gibson could only turn and watch. It was the third grand slam of Redus’ career.

The Dodgers scored twice against Reed in the third on two errors and hustle by Juan Samuel, but the 5-4 lead lasted less than 15 minutes.

With one out in the third, Wells walked Bobby Bonilla. Then Bonds singled. One out later, Slaught walked for the second time to load the bases for Belliard, who had driven in one run in 27 previous at-bats this season.

Belliard ripped a two-strike double down the third-base line, clearing the bases. Wells threw a breaking ball on the inside half of the plate, where the right-handed hitting Belliard could pull the ball against a defense that was shifted the other way.

“He had been blowing fastballs by him, and we were playing him to not pull the ball, then here comes this breaking ball that he can pull,” third baseman Lenny Harris said. “We got beat with that one pitch. Right there, the game was over.

“But Wells can still pitch. And I’m sure he learned from his mistake.”

He will probably have only one more chance to show what he learned as the Dodgers continue their search for a fifth starting pitcher.

In 12 starts, the candidates have gone 1-7 with a 7.74 ERA. The Dodgers have tried John Wetteland, Mike Maddux, Crews and Wells as fifth starters. Crews might get another chance if Wells doesn’t improve in his next start.

Said Harris: “People say all you need is one or two good pitchers. Not true. You need an entire, healthy staff. We have shown that.

“Now we’re talking like, if the West Division teams come into Los Angeles in the next couple of weeks and blow us out, it’s over with. Forget it. The season is done.”

The Dodgers returned home late Sunday to begin a 10-day stand featuring games against the two teams in front of them in the West Division standings, the first-place Cincinnati Reds and San Francisco Giants.

Sunday’s loss turned a possible 7-3 trip into a 6-4 trip and cost the Dodgers a rare chance to gain a game on both the Reds and Giants. The Dodgers are 13 1/2 games out of first and 3 1/2 games behind the Giants.

Dodger Notes

Kevin Wade, general manager at Chauncy’s bar-restaurant in Pittsburgh, was at the front door of the bar when the Dodgers’ Alfredo Griffin and Juan Samuel allegedly began beating busboy Wilson Sturgeon Jr. at about 2 a.m Saturday after the Dodgers’ 4-2 loss to the Pirates. Wade said when he arrived on the scene, Griffin was punching Sturgeon’s head while Sturgeon was bent and attempting to cover himself. Wade said he and several bouncers moved the players outside as police arrived.

“The cops told the two guys, ‘I suggest you get out of here,” ’ said Wade Sunday. “Then our busboy came outside all bleeding, and I said to the guys, ‘Who hit my busboy?’ Samuel said, ‘I hit him, what are you going to do about it?’ I don’t think he or Griffin realized that these were real policeman standing there. It was right about then they took them away.”’

On the advice of Dodger officials, Griffin and Samuel, charged with simple assault, have declined to comment on the incident. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for July 31 at Pittsburgh’s City Court. The Dodgers are scheduled to play the Cincinnati Reds in Los Angeles that night.

On Sunday, Griffin made his first appearance in the clubhouse since the incident. He had a swollen and bloodshot left eye, and did not play for a second consecutive day because his vision was blurred by eye medication. He said he planned to play today at Dodger Stadium against San Francisco.

Dodger catcher Rick Dempsey said that in the first inning of Tim Belcher’s one-hit victory over the Pirates Saturday, he heard a loud clicking sound from the Pirate dugout every time he would call for a fastball. “It was obvious what the Pirates were doing,” Dempsey said. “They must have had somebody on a monitor, or somewhere, who was stealing my signs.” Dempsey said he changed the signs after the first inning and didn’t hear the sound again. Jim Leyland, Pirate manager, scoffed at the charge. “If we were getting something from Belcher, I wish we hadn’t been telling our hitters about it, because he could have beaten us four times this year!” Leyland said.

Eddie Murray hit his 13th home run of the season in the first inning. . . . The Dodger bullpen, after giving up only two runs in its previous 21 2/3 innings, yielded three runs in five innings. Tim Crews gave up Jay Bell’s fourth homer and Ray Searage gave up Bell’s RBI double and Bobby Bonilla’s 20th homer.