It almost went completely under the radar in last night’s exciting 6-5 Dodgers win over the Seattle Mariners.

Almost.

But MLB.com’s Dodgers beat writer Ken Gurnick noticed it. In fact, Gurnick tweeted about it:

But with Yasiel Puig you never really know if he’s hurt or if he is just trying to work out a kink or something.

As it turns out Gurnick was, unfortunately, spot on when a post-game tweet by L.A. Times beat writer Bill Shaikin confirmed that something was wrong with the Dodgers right fielder.

And then this morning Shaikin’s L.A. Times colleague Steve Dilbeck wrote that when questioned about his “…hobbling,” Puig refused to answer questions about it (or anything else) with the media.

“Not talking about nothing,” Puig said after the game.

Exactly when Puig suffered whatever it was that caused his hobbling – presumably a hamstring issue – is a bit of a mystery. Dilbeck writes that it could have happened when he ran down a Kyle Seager line drive in the ninth inning or possibly when he had to suddenly put on the brakes after rounding first base on a single to right in the seventh inning.

After reading all of this, I decided to go through the 400-ish photos that I shot during last night’s bizarre game and lo and behold I found a shot that I think may show the source of the apparent Puig injury.

With one out in the bottom of the first inning, Puig hit a sharp grounder to Mariners first baseman Logan Morrison. As Puig was leaving the batters box, he stumbled and actually had to put his right hand down on the ground to keep from falling. Morrison easily made the play and Puig was out. Although nothing was mentioned about Puig’s hobbling until after the Seager line drive out in the ninth, this could very well have been when it occurred.

Although it wasn’t noticed until much later in the game, it is quite possible that Puig injured himself when he stumbled out of the box in the first inning. (Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

We’ll know more about the apparent Puig injury when Mattingly addresses the media at his his daily briefing before tonight’s game, but it’s probably safe to assume that Yasiel Puig will not be in the starting line-up.

Stay tuned…