For those who were fortunate enough to see a very young, very raw, 21-year-old Cuban defector by the name of Yasiel Puig when he made his minor league debut – first with the Arizona Rookie League Dodgers (nine games) and then with the Advanced Single-A Rancho Cucamonga Quakes (14 games) – in 2012, they knew … absolutely knew that this kid was special. They also knew that he was very unrefined and needed a lot of work and coaching.

He got it; although it took the better part of six years and even a couple of demotions back to the minors after making his major league debut with the Dodgers on June 3, 2013.

Along the way, beloved Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully gave the (now) 27-year-old, 6′-2″ / 240-pound right fielder the nickname “Wild Horse,” and let me tell you, there has never been a more apropos nickname in the 149-year history of the game.

With a cannon arm that frequently catches unsuspecting (or just plain ignorant) base runners trying to take an extra base on him, Scully’s nickname doesn’t really apply. But when the Wild Horse is on the base paths, it is, as noted, the most accurate description for a guy who quite often commits “TOOTBLANs” – the universally accepted baseball acronym for “Thrown Out On The basepath Like A Nincompoop” … and make no mistake about it, Puig has made a lot of TOOTBLANs during his six-year MLB career.

But in the bottom of the eighth inning of Sunday afternoon’s thrilling 6-4 come-from-behind win over the Colorado Rockies in front of 45,725 at Dodger Stadium, that same once very unrefined Wild Horse made an absolute fool of Rockies two-time All-Star, two-time Gold Glove second baseman DJ LeMahieu when he caught the eight-year MLB veteran asleep at the wheel on a routine grounder off the bat of Dodgers center fielder Joc Pederson, and flat picked LeMahieu’s pocket.

The inning began with a towering leadoff solo home run to dead center off the bat of current former Dodger Matt Kemp – his 14th of the season – to break a 4-4 time. This was followed by a Cody Bellinger strikeout, and sharp line drive double to left field by Puig. Puig then took third base on Pederson’s laser-shot single to LeMahieu that was simply too hot to handle and caused the normally flawless second baseman to stumble backwards, allowing Pederson to reach first base safely.

Kemp’s eighth-inning solo home run to straight away center field was the eventual game-winner. The veteran Dodgers outfielder drove in four of the Dodgers six runs on Sunday. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

After safely reaching third base, Puig rounded it and took about five steps towards home. He then seemingly taunted LeMahieu to throw over to third base, but the Rockies veteran second baseman would not bite. Instead, he lobbed the ball to first baseman Ian Desmond, at which Puig broke for home. In spite of a good throw to Rockies catcher Tom Murphy, Puig managed to beat the tag to give the Dodgers a much-needed insurance run to make it a 6-4 ballgame.

Was it risky? You bet it was. But it forced Desmond to make a hurried throw to the plate which, quite frankly, would not have even been necessary had LeMahieu simply thrown the ball back to the pitcher instead of throwing it to Desmond, which was completely unnecessary since Pederson had long reached first base safely.

Following Puig’s risky but successful play at the plate, I asked official scorer Jerry White what constitutes a steal of home (which I thought it was) versus a continuation of Pederson’s base hit to second. To his credit, White said that he was going to check with Elias Sports Bureau to get a better clarification. MLB allows an official scorer 24 hours after a game concludes to change a judgement call. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

In the simplest of terms, it was absolutely brilliant on Puig’s part and an extremely heads-up play.

“It was a little crazy for everybody and me too, because not too many players to score from third base in that situation,” said Puig, through an interpreter. “I made the move, he threw a slow ball and I said in my mind, ‘He’s not throwing, I’m going to go home and he’s not going to throw me out.’ And that’s the reactions coming down like that.”

Of course, LeMahieu’s take was a little different.

“There’s probably two guys in the league that are going to take a chance like that, and he’s one of them,” said the visibly annoyed Rockies second baseman. “I had my eyes on him, saw him dancing out to third and said, ‘All right, I’ll get it to Des, and he just had a really good read on it.”

Then again, what else could he say, right?

“Yasiel caught those guys sleeping a little bit,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said diplomatically after the game.