Yasiel Puig's Return from Injury Comes When the Dodgers Need Him Most

LOS ANGELES — Finally. 

Even as powerful as the Los Angeles Dodgers have been, and as productive as their outfielders have remained, finally.

Yasiel Puig returned to the Dodgers lineup Saturday night, and not a nearly wasted Clayton Kershaw outing too soon.

Puig, after two ugly at-bats that ended in strikeouts on seven combined pitches, delivered the game-deciding hit in the Dodgers’ 2-0 win over the St. Louis Cardinals at Dodger Stadium. It was a bullet of a double, lined into the right-center gap. He would later score on an infield single by Justin Turner, motoring around third to prove that the hamstring strain that put him on the disabled list for 39 games is no longer lingering.

“He’s such a talent in the middle of our lineup,” Dodgers catcher A.J. Ellis said. “It’s great to see him back there again.”

Puig’s return could have only been timed better if it came about three weeks ago. That is around the time the Dodgers’ once-potent offense turned meek, and that transformation has continued right up until Saturday, when it managed just two runs against St. Louis’ Jaime Garcia to give it a total of 12 in its last seven games, not counting four games last week at Coors Field, where offense can be found by a blind squirrel.

Thirteen times in the team’s last 21 games, the offense has produced two or fewer runs, averaging 3.05 runs per game in that span. Granted, the team has been without Puig, Carl Crawford and Yasmani Grandal for either virtually all or some of that time.

“We haven’t had our lineup,” manager Don Mattingly said. “We’ve had Yasiel for 11 games [this season], we’ve had Carl for [15] games. We haven’t been able to mix and match the way we’ve wanted.”

Because of that, Puig’s absence has been felt more lately. When he went on the DL, he was hitting .279/.380/.465 with two home runs in 50 plate appearances. He was also providing pretty solid defense in right field. 

The team’s offense was able to mask it for a time, but as others started to get hurt and bench players like Alex Guerrero and Scott Van Slyke were forced into bigger roles, his hole in the batting order became more obvious.

Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

The outfield as a group was fine without Puig, at least offensively. Going into Saturday, it still led the majors in slugging percentage (.515), OPS (.866), home runs (41) weighted runs created plus (139) and weighted on-base average (.371), according to Fangraphs. Much of that production came from two players, though—Joc Pederson, who is one of the front-runners for National League Rookie of the Year, and Andre Ethier, who is emerging as a Comeback Player of the Year candidate.

“We talked about over the past 10 days we really felt we missed [Puig] in the lineup,” Mattingly said. “You can survive two weeks, three weeks. But when you start getting into long term, it’s really when you end up in trouble when you don’t have your guys. It starts to show over the long haul.”

It continued to show Saturday, as Puig was unproductive until that critical seventh-inning laser beam. Garcia mostly handled the Dodgers without issue until then, as so many others have over the last few weeks, a time frame that includes a three-game sweep at the hands of the San Francisco Giants in which the Dodgers did not score a single run. The Giants are now only a half-game behind first-place Los Angeles in the standings.

Now, Ethier will move to left field anytime a right-handed starter opposes the Dodgers, with Pederson becoming a powerful superstar in center and Puig stalking right field. That combination could give the Dodgers the most feared offensive outfield trio in baseball, capable of carrying an offense that is searching for a spark.

"

Puig is back. Bullet to right center for RBI double following leadoff double by Heisey in seventh. Turner RBI single gives Kershaw 2-0 lead.

— Lyle Spencer (@LyleMSpencer) June 7, 2015"

With Puig back in the fold, and Kershaw resembling last season’s Cy Young Award and MVP winner more and more lately, the Dodgers are hoping their two best players can again lead them to a division title.

While Crawford is still out indefinitely and with so many pitchers visiting the doctor’s office more than the mound, Puig and Kershaw will be leaned upon. So far, they have proved up to the task.

“He had the big hit for us. That was huge,” Kershaw said. “He’s a power bat in the middle of our lineup. He swings right-handed, he’s protection for Adrian [Gonzalez], and it’s just nice to have him back.”

All quotes, unless otherwise specified, have been acquired firsthand by Anthony Witrado. Follow Anthony on Twitter @awitrado and talk baseball here.