Yasiel Puig entered play against the Twins on Thursday batting .276/.364/.471. Following the doubleheader, both of which resulted in Dodgers' victories, Puig was hitting .309/.396/.495. The small samples that still persist at the start of May have a little something to do with it, but mostly it was thanks to Puig being an absolute nightmare for Twins' pitching. The Dodgers' outfielder went 6-for-10 in the two games, while also drawing two walks, giving him eight times on base in a single day.
The Daily Puig: Yasiel Puig reached base 8 times Thursday
Even with a doubleheader that’s just silly.
Brad Rempel-USA TODAY Sports
Puig also reached base in nine consecutive plate appearances before that streak, started on April 30, was snapped during the second game of the doubleheader. MLB was kind enough to put all nine plate appearances together into one video:
All told in the series against the Twins, Puig was 8-for-14 with three walks, three RBI, a double, two runs, and one successful stolen base in as many attempts. While he was productive before this stretch, he’s now up to almost last year’s levels, when he batted .319/.391/.534 with a 158 OPS+: after yesterday’s doubleheader, he’s at a 151 OPS+.
It’s easy to forget about Puig’s numbers sometimes, since his mishaps and ridiculous feats of both athleticism and strength scream much louder, but the dude can flat-out hit, knows how to draw walks, and can send the ball into orbit when he gets a hold of one.
Maybe all this hitting will keep cranky beat writers off his case for a while, too.
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