The Los Angeles Dodgers are hoping that they won't be missing their spark plug for very long. Outfielder Yasiel Puig exited the Dodgers 10-8 victory over the Colorado Rockies after straining his right knee Monday.
Puig was replaced by Skip Schumaker in right field after in the bottom half of the sixth after scoring on a sac-fly in the top half.
Puig is hitting .351 this season with 14 homers and 32 RBIs in 120 games, and was 1-for-3 and hit by a pitch in Monday's game before he left. Puig noted that he usually only played around 96 games per season during his time in Cuba and that he's been feeling some pain in his leg for a while now.
Puig aggravated his already-ailing leg running to first on an error early in the game and then said he felt it again when he slid into third on a single by Adrian Gonzalez where Puig went first-to-third.
A video of Puig's injury can be accessed here.
Dodgers' manager Don Mattingly, who took Puig out of a game recently for disciplinary reasons, said that he doesn't expect the rookie to miss much time and Puig said there was no MRI planned.
"I'm going to get treatment tonight and we'll see how it feels [Tuesday]," Puig told ESPN through an interpreter following the game.
The Dodgers could use Puig for the stretch run as ever since the 22 year old rookie sensation was called up the team has been on a roll. Los Angeles (82-55) enters Tuesday with a 12.5 game lead in the National League West division, and looks to finish out strong in hopes of carrying some positive momentum into playoff baseball this October.
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
