LOS ANGELES — About the only thing Yasiel Puig couldn't do Sunday was hit a home run when he wanted to.
Up in the eighth inning with the suddenly rampaging Dodgers leading the Philadelphia Phillies 6-0, Puig, the sensational 22-year-old Cuban rookie, needed a home run to complete hitting for the cycle, as he earlier in the game had four hits — two singles, a double and a triple.
No one questions his power. Puig has hit seven home runs in his first month in the big leagues.
PUIG: Is he the greatest?
This time, though, he swung through strike three against Phillies reliever Justin De Fratus with a might cut, whiffing on a high fastball.
"I was going for it," Puig told a TV interviewer moments after the game. "It just didn't happen."
After keeping the print media waiting for about an hour after the Dodgers had finished a 6-1 victory, Puig was more coy with his answers.
Was he trying for the cycle?
"Yeah, I was thinking about it. The guys were talking to me about it," he said. "But I thought it would be better for the team if I just got a hit."
Really? It sure looked like he was going for a homer.
"If you say so," Puig said.
When the dust had settled on Puig's first month in the big leagues, by one measure, only one player in major league history had a better first month in the majors — a fellow by the name of Joe DiMaggio.
Puig has 44 hits — second only to DiMaggio's 48 in his first month, May of 1936.
"It's nice to be on that list," said Puig, though he conceded he didn't know anything about DiMaggio.
Puig is hitting .436 in 26 games, with seven home runs, 12 RBI, four stolen bases and 19 runs.
Not coincidentally, the Dodgers have become a different team, especially lately, having won eight of their last nine and, in a mediocre NL West, climbing to within four games of the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks.
The excitement around the 6-3, 245-pound specimen keeps building, and his every at-bat becomes a must-see moment.
"Nobody's going to the bathroom or taking a break when he comes up, that's for sure," Dodger catcher A.J. Ellis said. "He's pretty amazing. Pretty special. And he doesn't seem to be slowing down. He's definitely changed this clubhouse, changed the culture."
Now the debate has begun about whether Puig should represent the National League in the All-Star Game, though he has only a month in the big leagues.
"The way he's been playing, I think he'd bring a lot of excitement to the All-Star Game," said teammate Matt Kemp. "I think people would enjoy seeing what this kid is doing, because it's pretty amazing."
But hitting for the cycle will have to wait.
It certainly looked to Dodgers manager Don Mattingly like Puig was swinging for the fences on his last at-bat.
"There's a little flash in there with him," Mattingly said.
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