Post by Blunashun on Sept 17, 2019 20:32:28 GMT
Cleveland Indians’ Yasiel Puig says he doesn’t know why he didn’t run
Updated Sep 8, 2019; Posted Sep 8, 2019
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Wild Horse turned around and took it back to the barn on Saturday night at Target Field. Manager Terry Francona and teammate Carlos Santana were not happy about it.
In the fourth inning of Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Twins, Yasiel Puig, nicknamed the Wild Horse, sent a bouncer back to the mound and didn’t take a step toward first base. He just turned around and jogged back to the Indians dugout.
It did not look good and it was not well received.
“That’s obviously not what we’re looking for and he knows that,” said Francona after the game. "That won’t happen again.”
When Puig got back to the dugout, Santana talked to him.
“Santana was giving me advice that I need to run on every play," said Puig. “I’m 100 percent with him. I said sorry to him and said sorry to Tito. I’m supposed to run on that play.”
Asked why he didn’t run, Puig said, “I don’t know what happened in my mind, staying at the plate and not running. Tomorrow is a new day and I need to run every play. That can’t happen again.”
Puig earned his Wild Horse nickname a long time ago because of games like Saturday’s. After he failed to run in the fourth inning, he doubled twice, playing a part in all three of the Tribe’s runs in what was a critical loss in their quest to try and win a fourth straight AL Central title.
In the sixth, following two-out walks to Oscar Mercado and Santana, Puig doubled to score Mercado and pull the Indians into a 1-1 tie. Two batters later, Santana scored from third on a wild pitch for a 2-1 lead.
Puig hit another two-out double in the eighth and scored on a single by Jason Kipnis to make it 5-3.
The Twins won it with four runs in the seventh and Puig played a role in that as well. Willians Astuillo hit a leadoff single and scored on Jonathan Schoop’s triple high off the wall in center field. The Indians made two mistakes on that play.
Mercado went to the wall in center trying to make the catch. He should have played the ball off the wall and held Schoop to a double. Puig backed up the play and had a chance to hold Schoop at second as well, but launched the ball to the middle of the infield, ignoring the cutoff man.
After that Max Kepler walked and Mitch Garver hit a three-run homer off Nick Goody for a 5-2 lead. Three relievers, Adam Cimber, Oliver Perez and Goody, couldn’t stop the Twins in the seventh.
Francona acknowledged the pen’s problems, but added, “We didn’t help either. Oscar needs to play that as a double. Just play it as a double. Then after that Yasi fires it. So we go from having a running on second to a runner on third. That 90 feet is huge. It just kind of got the ball rolling where we couldn’t stop it.”
In a perfect world, the Indians would be positioned to complete a three-game of the Twins on Sunday. That’s not happening, but they still have a chance to win the series, which is critical to any postseason designs they still have.
“Hopefully, Sunday’s game will go better for myself and all of my teammates," said Puig.
Updated Sep 8, 2019; Posted Sep 8, 2019
By Paul Hoynes, cleveland.com
MINNEAPOLIS -- The Wild Horse turned around and took it back to the barn on Saturday night at Target Field. Manager Terry Francona and teammate Carlos Santana were not happy about it.
In the fourth inning of Saturday’s 5-3 loss to the Twins, Yasiel Puig, nicknamed the Wild Horse, sent a bouncer back to the mound and didn’t take a step toward first base. He just turned around and jogged back to the Indians dugout.
It did not look good and it was not well received.
“That’s obviously not what we’re looking for and he knows that,” said Francona after the game. "That won’t happen again.”
When Puig got back to the dugout, Santana talked to him.
“Santana was giving me advice that I need to run on every play," said Puig. “I’m 100 percent with him. I said sorry to him and said sorry to Tito. I’m supposed to run on that play.”
Asked why he didn’t run, Puig said, “I don’t know what happened in my mind, staying at the plate and not running. Tomorrow is a new day and I need to run every play. That can’t happen again.”
Puig earned his Wild Horse nickname a long time ago because of games like Saturday’s. After he failed to run in the fourth inning, he doubled twice, playing a part in all three of the Tribe’s runs in what was a critical loss in their quest to try and win a fourth straight AL Central title.
In the sixth, following two-out walks to Oscar Mercado and Santana, Puig doubled to score Mercado and pull the Indians into a 1-1 tie. Two batters later, Santana scored from third on a wild pitch for a 2-1 lead.
Puig hit another two-out double in the eighth and scored on a single by Jason Kipnis to make it 5-3.
The Twins won it with four runs in the seventh and Puig played a role in that as well. Willians Astuillo hit a leadoff single and scored on Jonathan Schoop’s triple high off the wall in center field. The Indians made two mistakes on that play.
Mercado went to the wall in center trying to make the catch. He should have played the ball off the wall and held Schoop to a double. Puig backed up the play and had a chance to hold Schoop at second as well, but launched the ball to the middle of the infield, ignoring the cutoff man.
After that Max Kepler walked and Mitch Garver hit a three-run homer off Nick Goody for a 5-2 lead. Three relievers, Adam Cimber, Oliver Perez and Goody, couldn’t stop the Twins in the seventh.
Francona acknowledged the pen’s problems, but added, “We didn’t help either. Oscar needs to play that as a double. Just play it as a double. Then after that Yasi fires it. So we go from having a running on second to a runner on third. That 90 feet is huge. It just kind of got the ball rolling where we couldn’t stop it.”
In a perfect world, the Indians would be positioned to complete a three-game of the Twins on Sunday. That’s not happening, but they still have a chance to win the series, which is critical to any postseason designs they still have.
“Hopefully, Sunday’s game will go better for myself and all of my teammates," said Puig.
