Dodgers News: Mattingy Says Cautious Approach Best For Puig’s Injury
Yasiel Puig needed just one game in the Majors to make his presence felt, recording the final two outs on a dramatic double play. He followed it up the next night by hitting his first and second career Major-League home runs.
There figure to be more noteworthy “firsts” in Puig’s career, however on Sunday he added one to the list that he surely would prefer to have avoided — getting placed on the disabled list. One day after being removed in the sixth inning because of a troublesome left hamstring, the Dodgers made the decision to place the 24 year old on the DL.
Manager Don Mattingly said Sunday Puig likely could’ve returned in the next few days, but it was decided the best course of action was to sit him with an eye on the long season that lies ahead, according to Dylan Hernandez of the LA Times:
It’s just a matter of not wanting to continue on,” Mattingly said. “We really feel like he’ll probably be able to play in four or five days. But we’re in the same situation we were in last week, where we wait four, five, he plays three and then something else. I think, at this point, get the thing right, make sure we have him for the long haul.”
Puig first suffered the hamstring strain April 13 and missed the next three games. He returned April 18 in the second of a three-game series against the Colorado Rockies and was held out the following afternoon due to soreness in the hamstring.
Mattingly proclaimed Puig healthy heading into the series against the San Francisco Giants, which held true for essentially next four games. Given the unpredictability of a hamstring injury, the Dodgers figure to benefit in the future by placing Puig on the disabled list now rather than attempt to proceed down the same path that just failed them.
Puig is batting .279/.380/.465 with two home runs and four RBIs in 11 games. Including Sunday, he’s missed six games with all but one due to injury.
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