David Wells took a shutout into the ninth inning and pitched the San Diego Padres past the Mets 3-1.

The only hits against the 41-year-old left-hander until the ninth were a pair of first-inning singles by Jeff Keppinger and Gerald Williams. The Mets knocked Wells out of the game in the ninth with two outs on a double by Williams and Richard Hidalgo’s RBI single.

Trevor Hoffman came in and struck out Mike Cameron on three pitches for his 32nd save.

San Diego nicked Mets starter Kris Benson (10-10) for a run in the fourth when Mark Loretta drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on Phil Nevin’s one out single to right. Loretta advanced to third on a fly out by Ryan Klesko and scored on a two-out RBI single by Sean Burroughs. Benson worked six innings, allowing three runs and seven hits.

San Diego made it 2-0 in the fifth when Ramon Hernandez hit the first pitch of the inning for his 13th homer.

Brian Giles led off the sixth with a double and moved to third on Nevin’s fly out. With the infield drawn in, Klesko bounced a single up the middle to score Giles and make it 3-0.

The only other Mets runners against Wells came in the third when Benson reached on an error by third baseman Burroughs, and in the sixth when Vance Wilson reached on shortstop Rich Aurilia’s error. Wells (8-7) struck out four and walked none and came within one out of his 13th career shutout.

Heath Bell, called up by the Mets from Norfolk, arrived two hours before the game and made his major league debut, pitching two scoreless innings.