Puig benched for not hustling

Yasiel Puig took a moment to admire his handiwork after stroking a long drive to right field in Tuesday night's game at Chavez Ravine - a homer, for sure, he thought - so the 25-year-old wasn't able to advance to second after his shot clanged high off the wall.

Dave Roberts, now two months into his first season as Los Angeles Dodgers manager, wasn't impressed. As such, Puig got to watch the last three innings of his club's 8-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds from the bench.

"In my opinion, he should have been on second base," Roberts told MLB.com's Chad Thornburg after the game. "When we talk about playing the game the right way, we've got to be accountable. So that was the decision that I made."

Having had his work ethic called into question in the past, Puig - who did end up scoring in the bottom of the sixth, somehow making it home from second after Joey Votto booted a grounder at first base - took full responsibility for his actions.

"I should have run out that ball," Puig said through a translator. "It was a bad decision on my part. 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."

Puig, incidentally, isn't the only player to get yanked from a game this week for dogging it. On Monday night, Philadelphia Phillies leadoff man Odubel Herrera was removed from his club's eventual loss to the Detroit Tigers for not running out a grounder in the seventh, even after recording three hits in his first three at-bats.