For as much as the Los Angeles Dodgers have dealt with injuries since Spring Training, they can now be described as the walking wounded. Joc Pederson suffered a bruise in the AC joint of his right shoulder on Tuesday, which rendered him unavailable in the second of their three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers.
More concerning is the uncertain status of Clayton Kershaw, who returned to Los Angeles on Wednesday to be examined by the Dr. Robert Watkins, the Dodgers’ back specialist. Kershaw received treatment for back soreness on Monday and was sent home after not showing signs of improvement.
Already playing with a short bench on Wednesday, the Dodgers appeared to lose Yasiel Puig to an apparent injury in the seventh inning. In his effort to track what was a Ryan Braun line-drive home run, Puig crashed into the fencing in right field.
He limped away and was seen hunched over between pitches. According to Ken Gurnick of MLB.com, Puig suffered a knee contusion on the play:
Puig minor knee contusion.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 30, 2016
Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects Puig to be in the lineup for the three-game series finale:
Roberts expects Puig to start tomorrow.
— Ken Gurnick (@kengurnick) June 30, 2016
Puig’s late jump suggested he wasn’t aware of the close proximity of the fence, though he finished the inning and bat for himself in the eighth. After grounding out and limping toward first base, Puig was removed.
Puig spent time on the disabled list earlier this season due to a hamstring strain. Multiple hamstring strains limited him to a career-low 79 games last season.
