Wells finds release point

Greg Maddux looked his age Thursday night, as did David Wells.

But whereas that was the case from the start for Maddux, Wells managed to turn back the clock at Dodger Stadium long enough for the Dodgers to earn a 6-3 victory over the San Diego Padres in the rubber match of a three-game series to cut the Padres’ lead in the wild-card race to 1 1/2 games.

With 16 games remaining in the season, the Dodgers will open a three-game series at home tonight against the Arizona Diamondbacks, who lead them by 5 1/2 games in the National League West.

“You always want to prove a team that released you wrong,” said Wells, who was let go by the Padres last month. “I never gave up on myself. They gave up on me. Maybe they’re having second thoughts about it. I hope so.”

Wells (8-8) not only held the Padres to three runs over six innings to improve to 3-0 in four starts for the Dodgers, but also had the first multihit game of his 21-year career. His single in the fourth marked the end of the night for Maddux (12-10), who lasted 3 1/3 innings, his shortest start since 2003.

Maddux was pounded for six runs and 10 hits, among them a second-inning double by the 44-year-old Wells that prompted the 250-pounder to admit, “I don’t like to stay on the bases too long.” He didn’t, getting thrown out at third on Rafael Furcal’s grounder to second.

Dodgers Manager Grady Little suspected that Wells’ time on the basepaths contributed to his giving up the sixth-inning home runs to Morgan Ensberg and Mike Cameron that resulted in the Padres’ only runs.

Wells gave up one hit in the first five innings, during which he faced one batter over the minimum. He took a perfect game into the sixth inning of his previous start, a win at San Francisco.

“He didn’t give up many hits until the sixth inning when they came in a bunch with a lot of yardage,” Little said. “His general game is to give up hits.”

Wells was candid when asked if he’d thought he would be pitching this well at this stage of the season.

“Not at all,” he said. “But crazier things have happened.”

By the time Ensberg and Cameron took him deep, the Dodgers had scored six runs.

Four of them were driven in by James Loney, who was 2 years old when Maddux, now 41, made his major league debut in 1986. Loney was three for four, making him 15 for 29 over his last seven games.

Loney doubled in the first, driving in Furcal. Maddux had a scare when the next batter, Jeff Kent, hit a comebacker that struck his left forearm.

Loney’s single in the third resulted in two more runs, with the first baseman later scoring on a hit by Luis Gonzalez to increase the Dodgers’ lead to 4-0. In 1991, Gonzalez hit the first two home runs of his career off Maddux at Wrigley Field in Chicago.

Furcal, playing on an ankle that was sprained in spring training and has never completely healed, stole three bases and scored three runs. He drove in Matt Kemp with a single in the fourth, stole second, then third, and scored on Loney’s single.

Juan Pierre also stole a base, his 57th of the season, and Takashi Saito earned his 38th save.

Nomar Garciaparra sat out his second game in a row, with Tony Abreu again getting the start at third base.

Little said of Garciaparra: “He’s not all the way back.”

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