The Los Angeles Dodgers trail the St. Louis Cardinals 2-1 in the NLDS and will try to save their season on Tuesday evening by pitching Clayton Kershaw on short rest. They’ll also be attempt to tie up the series with Yasiel Puig on the bench to start the game.
Puig, who is 3-for-12 in the series and has struck out eight times, has been replaced by Andre Ethier in the lineup for Game 4. When asked about the surprise move, Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said he feels benching Puig “gives us the best chance to win today.”
While Ethier is no scrub, he isn’t nearly as good a hitter as Puig. Ethier batted .249 with four home runs and 42 RBI in 130 games this season. Puig, was has far more pop, hit .296 with 16 homers and 69 RBI in 148 games. Puig’s on-base percentage of .382 is a whopping 60 points higher than Ethier’s .322.
There’s no question Puig is not seeing the ball well, but he has had a tendency to fall into slumps and break out of them in a big way. If he was battling some sort of injury, I’m sure Mattingly would have made mention of it on Tuesday.
With Kershaw pitching on just three days rest, it’s possible he won’t be able to go deep into the game and the Dodgers will need a pinch-hitter sometime in the middle innings. Puig could very well be the first bat off the bench, but Mattingly’s decision to take at-bats away from him is not a popular one. If it doesn’t work out, he’ll be answering plenty of questions about it.
