Yasiel Puig out of lineup again
LOS ANGELES -- Yasiel Puig was declared healthy from his left hamstring strain and returned to the lineup Saturday night, collecting two hits, a walk and an RBI.
About 12 hours later, soreness has the Los Angeles Dodgers' superstar right fielder again out of the lineup as the team goes for the sweep of the Colorado Rockies and its seventh win in a row Sunday.
"He came in a little sore today," manager Don Mattingly said Sunday. "It's kind of understandable. He hadn't played in four days, and he had a lot of action yesterday. We're going to take it as regular soreness. Nothing serious, but it buys us until Tuesday night. It just kind of makes sense."
Puig's soreness is a lingering effect from the hamstring injury he suffered Monday. It caused him to miss the team's final two games against the Seattle Mariners and the opener against the Rockies.
This day off for Puig comes before another off day Monday. Los Angeles opens a three-game set in San Francisco on Tuesday.
Puig was starting to rebound from an ugly 2-for-17 start to the year, which led to him being benched April 11 in Arizona. Puig returned the next day and went 1-for-5, but that hit was a home run. He hit another in his next game before straining the hamstring and having to take time off.
If the Dodgers decided to place Puig on the 15-day disabled list rather than playing a day-to-day guessing game on his availability, it now can be backdated to only Saturday rather than Monday. Putting him on the DL would also allow the Dodgers to bring up another player and not be short-handed on the bench if Puig is not available on a certain day.
"The DL was part of the conversation earlier, but I don't think anybody thought it would be that long," Mattingly said, referring to when Puig was first hurt last week. "To be honest with you, if they say DL, I'm fine with it. I like the way Andre [Ethier] is playing. We can get him his days and get healthy.
"I'm not going to sit here and push to get Yasiel in the lineup. It's way too early in the season for that. If medical says we should DL him, then we'll DL him and play at full strength with other guys."
In other Dodgers injury news, left-hander Hyun-Jin Ryu still has not been cleared to throw off a mound as he comes back from a sore throwing shoulder.
Ryu has played catch but has yet to get into a long-toss routine. He did not know when he might get on the mound or when he could return to the rotation.
Asked if he thought he could return by the All-Star break, Ryu laughed and said, "Of course."
