Yasiel Puig has the Dodgers rolling towards NL West repeat

Yasiel Puig’s three-run home run against Colorado on Wednesday gave the Los Angeles Dodgers their eighth win in nine games.

It may have taken longer than they expected, but the Los Angeles Dodgers are finally rounding into form. If they have one player to thank, it’s Yasiel Puig.

Puig came off the bench on Wednesday to hit a go-ahead, three-run home run as the Dodgers completed a sweep of their NL West-rival Colorado Rockies. It was the eighth win in the last nine games for the defending National League champions.

At the start of the series, the Dodgers (85-68) trailed the Rockies by half a game for the division lead. They now have a 2.5 game advantage with just nine games remaining in the season.

This recent stretch of wins coincides with Puig getting hot at the plate. The 27-year-old has hit six home runs during the Dodgers’ run, including the first three-homer game of his career on Sept. 15 against St. Louis. His home run on Wednesday was his 22nd of the season.

It was a tumultuous 24 hours in the life of the colorful Cuban. He left the Dodgers clubhouse on Tuesday amid reports his house was broken into. He returned to the team in time for Wednesday’s game, but wasn’t in the starting lineup against lefty Rockies’ starter Tyler Anderson; Puig is hitting just .216 against lefties this season.

Given the chance to pinch-hit in the bottom of the seventh, Puig came through, driving reliever Scott Oberg’s second pitch into the bleachers in left-center. Watching the ball sail into the Los Angeles night, Puig tossed his bat so high in the air it still might not have come down. The Dodgers won the game 5-2.

As the team returns to their pennant-winning form of last season, Puig says they are ready to put 2018’s slow start behind them as they chase another NL crown.

“We have been thinking about this. We thought we were going to win the division in spring training,” he said through an interpreter on Wednesday. “In the beginning, in April, in May, in June, things weren’t going very well. But now that we’re in September we’re not going to let this go.”

It’s not just Puig playing the hero in L.A. It was Chris Taylor’s turn on Tuesday, hitting a walk-off homer in the bottom of the tenth. Manager Dave Roberts says this series of games against Colorado revealed who the team really is.

“This game, this series, was emblematic of our ball club,” Roberts said. “How many people had their hands in this series to help win three games.”

Roberts was quick to give credit for the win to Puig and his ability to overcome not getting into the starting lineup to still contribute.

“Yasiel, to be able to put him in a leverage spot and to be prepared for that moment and to come through, was huge obviously,” he said. “Just to…understand, to not to get the start but be ready when called upon, all the credit goes to him.”

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The Dodgers have three series left in their season, against San Diego and Arizona before closing with rival San Francisco. If they can carry this streak into October, a return to the World Series is well within their reach.