You have to admit that when Dodgers left-hander Rich Hill walked the bases loaded and then coughed up a monster second deck grand slam home run to St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Patrick Wisdom in the bottom of the fourth inning on Saturday morning at Busch Stadium to turn a 3-0 Dodgers lead into a 4-3 deficit, things looked rather gloomy for the Dodgers nine – this in spite of the fact that all three of the Dodgers runs were the result of a two-run home run by Dodgers shortstop Manny Machado in the top of the first inning and a solo blast by Dodgers right fielder Yasiel Puig in the top of the of the fourth. For Puig, it was his third home run in his last six at-bats, having hit two the night before against those same Cardinals. It was also his 19th of the season.

Rich Hill walks away from the mound in disgust after hanging a 75-mph curveball right over the middle of the plate that Cardinals first baseman Patrick Wisdom did not miss for his first career grand slam.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)

Although no one knew it at the time, those four Cardinals runs would be their last of the day.

Not so for the Dodgers.

Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner led off the top half of the fifth inning with a sharp single to left, which was followed by a fly out to right by Machado. Dodgers first baseman Max Muncy and catcher Yasmani Grandal then drew back-to-back walks off of Cardinals right-hander John Gant to load the bases for Dodgers center fielder Cody Bellinger.

Hoping to avoid a ‘turnabout is fair play’ situation, Cardinals manager Mike Shildt removed his starter and brought in left-hander Tyler Webb to face the left-handed hitting Bellinger. And while it would have been quite poetic for Bellinger also hit a grad slam of his own, he did not. But what he did do was line a sharp single to right, scoring Turner and Muncy to give the Dodgers a 5-4 lead, with both runs being charged to Gant and a one-batter outing for Webb.

Shildt next brought in right-hander Mike Mayers to face (wait for it…) Yasiel Puig who, on Mayers’ fourth pitch, buried it in the seats down the left field line for a devastating (for the Cardinals, that is) three-run home run to make it an 8-4 ballgame to give Puig his second two-home-run game in as many days, his fourth in his last seven at-bats, and his 20th of the season.

But wait, there’s more! Nine runs more, in fact.

Although Puig’s second home run of the afternoon put a dagger through the Cardinals heart, the Dodgers added two more runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles by Joc Pederson and Bellinger

And then came the eighth inning.

After a leadoff walk by Muncy off of Cardinals right-hander Luke Weaver and a ground out to first by Grandal, Weaver also walked Bellinger to bring Puig to the plate. After falling behind 0-2 in the count and fouling off a 95-mph fastball that was right down the middle, Weaver tried to fool the blazing red-hot Dodgers right fielder with an 85-mph change-up.

He did not.

Instead, Puig absolutely crushed it (very) deep midway up the left field seats for a three-run blast, his third of the day and 21st of the season, to give him a career high seven RBI and the Dodgers a ridiculous 13-4 lead.

Have a day, Yasiel Puig.
(Video capture courtesy of Fox Sports)

But apparently 13 runs wasn’t quite ridiculous enough for a team that is (was) not only trying to move ahead of the Cardinals for the second NL Wild Card spot, but also trying to recapture first place in the NL West. They put an exclamation point on this effort by adding four more runs in the ninth inning – one on a fielding error by Wisdom and three more on a Cody Bellinger home run to deep right/center field – to give the Dodgers a two touchdown and an extra point 17-4 win over the Redbirds.

“I feel good at the plate,” Puig told reporters after his remarkable (and historic) day. “I’m looking for good pitches to hit and trying to hit the ball in the air like all of my teammates and coaches talk to me about every day. They tell me, ‘Hit the ball in the air and stop hitting ground balls.’ God blessed me with these two games.”

What did Dodgers manager Dave Roberts think of Puig’s incredible day?

“He’s focused and he understands the importance of every pitch,” said Roberts. “When he does that, he’s as good as anybody in baseball. For him to be as productive, have that day, get us on the board and get some space with the score, we needed every bit of it today. Guys fed off his energy.”

In addition to wearing Dodger Blue on Saturday afternoon, the baseball gods also wore it on Saturday evening, when the lowly San Francisco Giants beat the (to that point) NL West-leading Colorado Rockies at AT&T Park for the second consecutive night. As a result, and coupled with the Dodgers fourth consecutive win, the Dodgers are once again in sole possession of first place in the division, albeit by a mere 0.5 games. That being said and with a suddenly smoking hot Yasiel Puig, a still red-hot Justin Turner, and a heating up Cody Bellinger (who had six RBI on Saturday), it’s quite possible that the Dodgers might be in first place to stay, with only 13 games remaining in the 2018 regular season.

Then again, there’s a small matter of a three-game series with the Rockies at Dodger Stadium beginning on Monday evening which, in all likelihood, will determine who will win the wild wild NL West.

Strap in and hang on!