Los Angeles Dodgers manager Dave Roberts loses patience with Yasiel Puig

LOS ANGELES -- When he took the job as the Los Angeles Dodgers manager, Dave Roberts had to figure this moment would eventually come.

Yasiel Puig's four-year career has been littered with moments that tested the patience, tolerance and authority of his manager. Tuesday night, it happened for the first time under Roberts.

Puig drove a ball off the right-field wall in the sixth inning against the Cincinnati Reds. Thinking it was going to clear the fence, Puig stood and admired the drive from a spot very near the batter's box. When the ball did not carry over the fence, Puig was left with a single instead of the extra-base hit Roberts thought he should have had.

Roberts pulled Puig from the game at the end of that inning and could be seen scolding him in the dugout.

On Wednesday, Puig was not in the Dodgers' starting lineup. Roberts said it was a coincidence and "definitely not punitive" for the lapse the previous night. Puig did enter the game as a defensive sub in the final two innings and struck out in his only at-bat.

"I try to treat every player the same," Roberts said of the benching Tuesday night. "If it were any other player, I would make that same decision.

"We're still learning one another. But I do believe the buy-in, the care for his teammates is getting better each day."

Asked about how he would handle the Dodgers' problem child when he was hired as manager, Roberts said he would give Puig "a clean slate" in the new relationship. He maintained that Puig's previous track record did not play into his decision to bench him this time.

"Obviously, I've heard about the history. I've seen some of it," Roberts said. "That incident, I dealt with it the best I felt for the ballclub. It's not a cumulative thing. It's the same thing for everyone. There's expectations on how we play the game and if they're not followed then there's consequences."