Puig’s breakout was a matter of time

LOS ANGELES — Basic stat lines might not have shown it, but Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig had been hitting the ball as hard as anyone in the league in the three games prior to Friday night’s 3-for-5 breakout in an 8-4 win over the Cardinals.

Puig entered the series opener with a .230/.276/.365 slash line, but signs pointed to his coming out of the funk prior to his home run and two RBIs at Dodger Stadium.

“I was happy for [Puig],” manager Dave Roberts said. “He’s been working hard, and like we’ve talked about, these last few days he’s had good at-bats, hit the ball hard, and had nothing to show for it. Then, today he got rewarded.”

You could almost say Puig has had the same showing three games in a row, then broke through in the fourth. The following are his batted-ball velocities, according to Statcast™, and outcomes from each plate appearance.

• Tuesday: 103-mph single, 105-mph out, 109 mph out, popout (no data)

• Wednesday: 110-mph single, 81-mph out, 102-mph out, strikeout

• Thursday: 97-mph out, 98-mph out, …

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