His helmet covered his eyes after he careened into third base, but Yasiel Puig clapped his hands and thumped his chest anyway. His Los Angeles Dodgers teammates rose to greet him after his second triple in as many games, this one the decisive blow in a 3-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.
A revival from Puig, once such a dynamic force, would be a coup for this team. No conclusions can be drawn from two games. But Puig has done damage in both, with a sudden investment in patience and the re-emergence of his power stroke.
The offense failed to replicate Monday’s 15-run bombardment. But a three-run rally in the fourth inning placed enough space between the two teams, and Scott Kazmir spun six one-hit innings in his Dodgers debut.
Manager Dave Roberts removed Kazmir after only 75 pitches. He retired the last 17 batters he faced. The sole blemish on his line was a single in the first inning. He struck out five.
Kazmir turned up after Zack Greinke fled to Arizona and Hisashi Iwakuma failed his physical. As a consolation prize, you could do worse. Kazmir has averaged 177 innings per season with a 3.54 earned-run average since 2013, all while pitching in the American League. Tuesday was his first game as a pitcher in the National League.
“When Scott’s effective, he’s obviously pitching off his fastball,” Roberts said before the game. “The changeup is down in the zone. He’s throwing his curveball for a strike. I think he’s a guy that works hitters in and out, but also front to back with the fastball-changeup combination.”
Kazmir dueled with James Shields, his teammate for four years in Tampa Bay. The Dodgers dented him in the fourth inning, producing three runs thanks to well-placed hits, a misplay by San Diego center fielder Jon Jay and Puig’s brio.
The sequence started when rookie Corey Seager hit a single up the middle. After former Dodger Matt Kemp flagged down a shot to right by Justin Turner, saving an extra-base hit, Shields watched as Jay retreated in pursuit of a drive off Adrian Gonzalez’s bat.
The ball was smoked, and Jay sprinted to find it. When he turned around, he learned the error of his route. The double landed to his right, a few feet away from his dive. Seager held at third base.
Up came Puig. In his first at-bat, two innings before, Puig demonstrated some restraint. He worked a walk and sprinted to first base.
This time, he held off on a 1-2 cutter that nearly caught the inner part of the plate. He hammered the next pitch, a 93-mph fastball at the thighs, over Jay’s head.
With Puig at third, the Padres shifted their infielders toward the edge of the grass. Carl Crawford defused the strategy by shooting a ground ball between the shortstop and the third baseman. Shields saw the ball roll into left field and hung his head. The bats went quiet from there. No Dodger collected a hit after a double by Seager in the fifth. A day after Clayton Kershaw struck out nine in seven scoreless innings, Kazmir offered a credible second act. He relied upon weak contact through the first three innings. In his final three, he missed bats with more frequency.
Kazmir ended the fourth inning by pumping a cutter past first baseman Wil Myers. He fanned Melvin Upton, Jr. in the sixth with a 91-mph fastball. His final pitch of the evening was a 90-mph fastball at the knees. Jay swung and missed.
Kazmir returned to the dugout and did not re-emerge. It was unclear, when the game ended, if there were any physical issues. Or, perhaps, the Dodgers did not want Kazmir to face the Padres for a third time through the order.
Like almost all pitchers, Kazmir becomes more hittable as opponents see him more often. The first time through the order in 2015, he held hitters to a .634 on-base plus slugging percentage. The second time? A .640 OPS. But in the third turn, the opponents punched up a more dangerous .787 OPS.
So Kazmir watched as Roberts opened his bullpen. Pedro Baez struck out a pair in the seventh. Chris Hatcher whiffed two batters in the eighth. And in the ninth, Kenley Jansen bulled his way to his first save of the season.
RESULTS
Houston 5 NY Yankees 3               
Boston 6 Cleveland 2
NY Mets 2 Kansas City 0               
Pittsburgh 6 St. Louis 5 (11 innings)
Detroit 8 Miami 7 (11 innings)
Tampa Bay3 Toronto 2               
Seattle 10 Texas 2
San Francisco 2 Milwaukee 1
Arizona 11 Colorado 6
Chicago Cubs 6  LA Angels   1               
White Sox 5  Oakland     4               
LA Dodgers 3 San Diego 0