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That scream from underneath the stands in the 10th inning at Dodger Stadium late Wednesday afternoon was not Dodger spirits watching Delino DeShields being allowed to hit for himself.

It was Atlanta Brave pitcher John Smoltz.

Finally wild.

Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones squeezed the final out in the Braves’ 2-1, 10-inning victory in the first game of their division playoff series, and Smoltz hollered at the clubhouse TV.

“Screamed pretty good,” he said.

On an afternoon where one slip would have sent his team tumbling, it was the first time he lost control.

The numbing numbers:

Nine innings.

Four hits.

One run, on a ground ball over the third-base bag.

One ball hit out of the infield by the first 11 batters.

Thirteen outs on his final 13 batters.

Seventeen consecutive strikes to his final seven batters.

One scream.

And, oh yes, six wins in seven postseason decisions.

“When the game is on the line, when the pressure is high, I want the ball,” Smoltz said afterward.

That’s how he treated it Wednesday, delightfully spinning it away from right-handed hitters, and at the feet of left-hander hitters, throwing it through the swings and past stares.

He was so good, he was . . .

“Boring,” Jones said. “It’s like, you just stand there.”

The number of grounders fielded by Jones? Zero. Nobody could get around on it quick enough.

The number of grounders fielded by shortstop Jeff Blauser? Two.

“The best way to explain this game is, it was a blast,” Blauser said. “It was a game where you take a deep breath and say, ‘Wow.’ ”

You say it if you are everyone but Smoltz.

The only time he appeared to even sweat on Wednesday was on his first batter, when he watched first baseman Fred McGriff apparently tag Wayne Kirby one foot from the bag, only to hear umpire Eric Gregg call him safe.

Smoltz argued for a few seconds, and then something rather mature happened.

He forgot it.

“I knew he was out but . . . I had to go back and pitch,” Smoltz said.

Kirby was thrown out stealing, Todd Hollandsworth hit another grounder to McGriff that was cleanly fielded, and Mike Piazza struck out looking to end the inning.

“If that happened in the past, he steps back up and walks the next batter,” said Dr. Jack Llewellyn, a sports psychologist who works with several Braves. “He would get frustrated and upset.”

As recently as four years ago, Smoltz had such trouble concentrating that Llewellyn would sit behind home plate and wear something red during each of his starts.

During jams, Smoltz would spot the color and remember to focus.

Llewellyn sat behind home plate again Wednesday. But his blazer and shirt and tie and pants didn’t have a trace of red.

It’s one thing to overcome elbow problems. It’s another thing to rid yourself of based-loaded demons. Smoltz has done both, as a major-league leading 24 wins and 276 strikeouts this season should prove.

“You look how healthy he is physically, and combine that with how mentally strong he has become, and you’ve got quite a pitcher,” Llewellyn said.

Smoltz is so strong these days that while most pitchers adjust between hitters, he “recovers between pitches,” Llewellyn said.

And so he went 2 and 0 on Greg Gagne with runners on first and third in the second inning . . . and struck him out.

And induced Eric Karros into a weak foul out with two out and runners on first and third in the third.

And struck out Piazza with two out and a runner on second in the fifth.

Of 33 batters he faced, the count ran to three balls on 10, and full on nine.

Yet he walked only two, struck out seven, and finished with an championship-scented flourish.

With two out in the seventh, he battled fellow starter Ramon Martinez with a full count and three foul balls . . . then struck him out on ball four.

So began his run of 17 consecutive strikes.

The heart of the Dodger lineup was part of that streak, with Piazza, Karros and Raul Mondesi going down on a total of five pitches.

When told of his final streak, for one of the first times during the postgame interview sessions, Smoltz smiled.

“I knew I had to finish strong,” he said. “If I was going to get beat, I was going to get beat on a solo home run.

“I was going to go right at them with everything I had.”

And when it was time to leave the game for a pinch-hitter in the 10th inning after throwing 125 pitches . . . Smoltz protested.

After all, there had been no stirring in the bullpen for nearly three hours, unheard of in postseason games. So why bother reliever Mark Wohlers now?

“I could have gone back out there,” Smoltz said. “But this is fine.”

In came pinch-hitter Luis Polonia, and to the clubhouse went Smoltz.

“I couldn’t stay there, I had to walk around,” Smoltz said. “I mean, I was no longer in control.”

About time.