Wells, Cubs get past Braves

In a lost season for Randy Wells, he may finally be starting to find himself.

Wells pitched effectively into the seventh inning, Alfonso Soriano homered, and the Cubs defeated the Atlanta Braves 3-2 on Wednesday night at Wrigley Field.

Wells (5-4) held the Braves to 1 run and 2 hits over 6⅔ innings, striking out six and improving to 4-1 in his career against Atlanta.

“Randy was good, obviously,” Cubs manager Mike Quade said. “Just a real good performance on the back of a game he threw pretty well.”

The Cubs snapped the Braves’ six-game winning streak, and Atlanta remained 6½ games behind the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL East.

Soriano’s 2-run shot fueled the Cubs’ 3-run rally in the second. He also walked and was hit by a pitch. Aramis Ramirez added a single and 2 walks, extending his hitting streak to 13 games.

“It felt good,” Soriano said about his long home run. “That’s all we needed because (Wells) threw a very good game tonight.”

Carlos Marmol got the last three outs and joined Lee Smith as the only Cubs relievers to post consecutive 30-save seasons.

Wells has struggled this season, going 3-4 with a 6.16 ERA since coming off a seven-week stay on the disabled list May 28. On Wednesday, he flashed the form that gave him the NL’s 10th-best ERA as a rookie in 2009.

“I’m starting to feel a lot better,” Wells said. “I’m starting to command the fastball a lot better. Tonight, I had a pretty good changeup.”

He got off to a fast start, setting down the first 10 Braves and striking out four. The only hit he allowed through the first six innings was Martin Prado’s infield single in the fourth.

“Not only (was it big) to come out and shut them down early, but do it pretty economically pitch count-wise,” Quade said.

“Those early innings got him to the seventh.”