The way first-year Dodgers manager Dave Roberts sees it, there's the right way to play baseball and there's what Yasiel Puig did Tuesday night.
MORE: Are these aces broken? | Watch Puig hang over 1,168-foot tower
The Dodgers outfielder stayed in the batter's box, admiring his long drive to right field in the sixth inning, until it bounced off the outfield wall, turning what he assumed was a home run into a very long single — and a one-way ticket to the bench.
"In my opinion, he should have been on second base," Roberts told reporters after the game (via Dodgers.com). "When we talk about playing the game the right way, we've got to be accountable. So that was the decision that I made."
The decision: Though Puig came around to score, he was yanked from an eventual 8-2 win over the Reds.
"It was a bad decision on my part," Puig said through a translator (via the Los Angeles Times). "It was a good decision on the manager's part. It shows not only myself, but the rest of my teammates, that you have to run out every single ball."
He added: "I wanted to keep playing. But his decision was the correct one, because I wasn't giving 100 percent."
Of course, even a contrite Puig couldn't resist putting his benching in context by mentioning a certain former Dodgers manager with whom he frequently battled.
Asked if Tuesday's incident was the first time he'd been pulled from a game, he said (via the Orange County Register): "I don't remember. You'd have to ask Don Mattingly."
UPDATE: Puig was not in the starting lineup for Wednesday's game. No reason was immediately given.
UPDATE 2: Roberts told reporters (per the Orange County Register) that Puig was not being punished. He said he decided before Tuesday's game to give Puig a scheduled day off Wednesday. Roberts also said the two had a "good conversation" about what happened. "He wants to be a better teammate," Roberts said, per Dodger Insider.
