Don Mattingly upset with Yasiel Puig after Australia series?
Yasiel Puig's play earned him a talking-to from Adrian Gonzalez and chilly words from Don Mattingly. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)
It was a wild and mostly successful weekend in Australia for Yasiel Puig, but after only two games, he may already be on manager Don Mattingly's bad side.
Puig, who went 3-for-5 in the Dodgers' 7-5 win over the Diamondbacks in Sydney on Sunday, left the game in the ninth inning after striking out in the top half of the frame. Puig appeared to hurt himself on a swing in his last at-bat, and didn't take the field in the bottom of the ninth. Asked after the game about Puig's injury, Mattingly delivered some less-than-happy-sounding remarks on his star outfielder.
From ESPN Los Angeles' Mark Saxon:
Before the game, Mattingly told reporters that Puig "grabs something every time he takes a swing and misses."
Asked what injury caused Puig to leave Sunday's game, Mattingly said, "I guess his back." He then seemed to react sarcastically when asked about the severity of the injury.
"Shoulder yesterday, back today, so I'm not sure if they're going to get him tests or get him to the MRI Monday or a bone scan on Tuesday, maybe," Mattingly said. "I'm not quite sure what we'll do. We may not do anything. I'm not sure."
After the game, Puig reportedly told Dodgers trainers that his back was tight. Mattingly, for his part, seemed unaware as to how hurt Puig really was.
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Mattingly was likely also expressing frustration at Puig's play in Sunday's game. Despite picking up three hits and two RBI, Puig ran into two outs on the basepaths. The first came on his RBI single in the third inning, when he made a break for second base and was easily thrown out. That gaffe got him a talking to from Adrian Gonzalez, with Saxon noting that "the two players were bantering loudly in Spanish in the Dodgers' clubhouse following the game." In the sixth inning, Puig, standing on second base, hesitated on a wild pitch by Arizona's Joe Thatcher, then broke for third base, only to be thrown out easily by Miguel Montero. "It was a rough day," Mattingly said afterward.
