Yasiel Puig was pulled from Tuesday's game for not running out a deep fly
He ended up with a single off the wall.
By
Matt Snyder
•
1 min read
Dodgers right fielder and lightning rod Yasiel Puig was taken out of Tuesday night's win over the Reds (8-2 was the final score) after an RBI single. At least that's what the box score says. Absent context, one might just gloss over it and think nothing of it.
But, well, there's this:
Dave Roberts pulled Yasiel Puig because he did not run out his single off the wall.
— Andy McCullough (@McCulloughTimes) May 25, 2016
Yeah, Puig actually hit the ball off the wall on a fly and thought he hit a home run (MLB.com video). It should have been an easy double with Puig's speed and, at the time, the RBI only made it a 4-2 Dodgers lead.
As regular Eye on Baseball readers know, I never get angry at players watching their home runs, but here's the rub: If it's close, you have to run. No, not because of something ridiculous like "showing up the other team." They are big boys and should be able to deal with that. It's because this error in judgement could have hurt Puig's team. If you can't be sure, you can't watch it. Roberts removing Puig from the game says as much.
It's not as though Puig is having an all-world season, either. He's hitting .247/.289/.382 with four doubles, two triples and five homers. This is the second time this week that a player has been pulled for lack of hustle. And it's only Tuesday.
To Puig's credit, he was accountable (and you can see video of the play in here as well):
