The Los Angeles Dodgers will have Yaisel Puig back in the lineup as he looks to regain his spectacular performance Friday night against the San Diego Padres Friday night at 10:10 p.m. ET.
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Via ESPN:
Manager Don Mattingly pulled Puig after four innings of Wednesday's 4-0 home win over the Chicago Cubs, replacing him with Skip Schumaker in right field. Puig didn't attempt to break up a first-inning double play with a slide at second and slammed his bat following a third-inning strikeout.
Mattingly, who along with general manager Ned Colletti met with Puig following the game, declined to elaborate on the reasoning for his decision.
"I felt I was going to get a better effort out of Skip," Mattingly said.
Puig, who was fined by Mattingly after arriving late for a game in Miami last week, is hitting .346 since debuting against scheduled starter Eric Stults (8-11, 3.72 ERA) in a 2-1 home win over San Diego on June 3. He was 2 for 4 in his debut, including 2 for 3 off Stults, but is batting .231 with an 0-for-10 mark with runners in scoring position over his last 18 contests.
"I wasn't prepared well for each pitch. It was a good decision," Puig said through a translator.
"I wanted to finish the game, but I agreed with the explanation. The meeting went well. We talked about what every player needs to do to prepare for every pitch."
Puig-related dramatics notwithstanding, the first-place Dodgers (78-55) keep rolling, with their 21 wins in August tying a Los Angeles record for most victories in a calendar month. Wednesday's game also marked their 19th shutout, their most since recording the same number in 1989.
Responsible for one of those shutouts is scheduled starter Hyun-Jin Ryu (12-5, 3.08), who has yet to face the Padres (60-73). He comes off consecutive losses for the first time after allowing four runs in five innings of a 4-2 loss to Boston on Saturday.
