In what had already been an injury-plagued season, the Los Angeles Dodgers had some tough luck on Sunday when right fielder Yasiel Puig went down with an oblique injury.
Puig was in the midst of a very solid stretch of play, homering in each of the last two games he played in. Dating abck to when he first came off the disabled list at the beginning of May, he was hitting .303/.365/.576 with 11 home runs and 28 RBI in 52 games.
After undergoing an MRI on Monday, Puig was placed on the 10-day disabled list and Andrew Toles was recalled from Triple-A Oklahoma City. The MRI determined that Puig is dealing with a Grade 1 oblique strain, and Dodgers manager Dave Roberts expects him to miss a few weeks, via Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“It was a Grade 1 oblique strain,” said Roberts. “Don’t know exactly, but from what we gather it’s going to be a few weeks. With him and the time we have left in the season, we’ve got to be very careful. It can come back and bite you at any time, so we’re going to be patient and make sure he is symptom free before he’s ramped up.”
While losing Puig is obviously tough, perhaps no team is more equipped to deal with a significant injury that the Dodgers.
Matt Kemp is expected to shift over from left to right field in his absence, while Toles and Kiké Hernandez should also see extended playing time in the outfield.
The Dodgers could also look to add a position player in a trade, although that was already the case before Puig went down.
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