Puig brings it home, Dodgers defeat Nationals, 4-3

Throughout Yasiel Puig’s breathless journey with the Dodgers, which has at times seemed longer than parts of four seasons, fewer truisms have been uttered than this, from Manager Dave Roberts, on Wednesday night:

“There’s something about Yasiel that’s very fascinating,” Roberts said. “You love him but sometimes he leaves you scratching your head. You do not want to take your eyes off him because something might happen, good or not so good.”

He can be a lot to take in, at times. But you watch.

In the ninth inning, with the Dodgers down a run to the Washington Nationals and Howie Kendrick on first base, Puig singled. He rounded first, slowed up and took a peek toward the outfield. By now, Dodgers faithful know not to avert their gaze.

The ball had skipped through center fielder Michael Taylor’s legs. Now, it was a race. In those, Puig still excels. He flew past second, arms swinging. Taylor scrambled toward the wall. Puig tore around third, legs churning. He was given a stop sign. He ignored it. The relay was late. Puig belly flopped into home plate, and the play wasn’t close. He scored the winning run on an error-aided inside-the-park walk-off. The Dodgers had a 4-3 win.

Puig arose, thrust his arms in the air and hugged A.J. Ellis.

Moments later, his chest still heaving, he stood in front of the dugout.

“It was a little bit crazy,” he said.

Justin Turner burst out from the tunnel and drenched Puig with a Gatorade cooler. Puig smiled.

“It’s been about a year and a half sine they’ve been able to do that to me,” Puig said.

Puig’s last season and a half has been scarred by injury, stifled by prolonged slumping at the plate. His outsized — and polarizing — persona has mellowed. He has adopted the hashtag #PuigYourFriend. And he has been a better teammate, though not always with the bat in his hands.

Still, he remains Puig, still able to electrify, even after returning from a hamstring injury on Tuesday.

“I think his hamstring’s all right,” Ellis said.

The Dodgers (41-33) have found creative ways to win during a season-long six-game winning streak. Justin Turner and Yasmani Grandal have interrupted slumps, and heated confrontations, to win games. They’ve floated to eight games above .500, also a season high.

This win completed a sweep over the Nationals, the first-place ballclub in the National League East.

The Nationals were in position to win before Puig’s improbable run. In the eighth inning, Wilson Ramos smashed Pedro Baez’s third pitch of the evening for a towering, go-ahead home run. The Nationals led 3-2.

Baez labored in the ninth inning, loading the bases with two out. Chris Hatcher was called in to face Bryce Harper. He induced a weak groundout to end the inning and, it turned out, get the victory.

Julio Urias, the Dodgers’ 19-year-old left-hander, earned new admirers on Wednesday. Before the game, the giddiness attending his ascension to the major leagues did not invade the visiting clubhouse. In the manager’s office, Dusty Baker, the former Dodger, was asked about the comparisons between the 19-year-old and Fernando Valenzuela.

“Everybody’s the next somebody,” Baker said. “I was the next Hank Aaron. You see what happened.”

His point: prove it. Urias is starting to. He threw five innings, giving up two runs and six hits to got with six strikeouts. He will pitch at least one more time before the Dodgers shunt him away for a midseason respite, which they hope will save his arm from damage.

The Dodgers scored in the first inning when Chase Utley singled off the Nationals’ 23-year-old starter Joe Ross, and later scored on a wild pitch.

In the second inning, Urias served up two doubles, to Danny Espinosa and Ross, to plate both of his runs.

Howie Kendrick, a pinch hitter, led off the ninth inning with a single to set the stage for Puig. It was hard to imagine a worse ending for Taylor, who also struck out in all five at bats.

Adrian Gonzalez said he can think of few endings like it.

“Not like that,” he said. “I’ve seen balls dropped, balls missed, but I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Afterward, Vin Scully recounted the finish on the air.

“The wild horse had a chance to run, and run he did,” he said. “No way of stopping him.

“Can you believe it?”

Not if it were anyone else.

zach.helfand@latimes.com