Yasiel Puig isn’t worried about swollen hand or Dodgers’ play

Other than the noticeable swelling on the top of Yasiel Puig’s left hand, there was no indication anything was wrong.

Puig smiled. He playfully rolled his eyes. He joked.

“I’m not worried about what’s happening right now,” he said.

But the Dodgers have scored three runs or less in each of their last six games, the most recent a 4-2 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals on Saturday at Busch Stadium. The loss was their second to the Cardinals in as many days.

Puig has only one home run in his last 44 games. Now, he has a swollen left hand, courtesy of a misfired third-inning curveball by starter Joe Kelly, the same pitcher who fractured Hanley Ramirez’s ribs with an inside fastball in the National League Championship Series last year.

Puig remained in the game until the eighth inning, when Matt Kemp pinch-hit for him with a man on second. Kemp struck out, but the Dodgers averted the worst-case scenario: X-rays on Puig’s hand were negative.

Puig, who was 0 for 1 with a walk, said he was uncertain whether he would play Sunday in the series finale.

“I’ll keep icing and see what happens,” he said.

Puig absolved Kelly of any wrongdoing, saying there was no chance the hard thrower struck him on purpose.

“No, no, no,” Puig said. “That’s baseball. They were winning 4-0. There was no point in them hitting me.”

Puig was batting a season-best .349 on May 25. In his 46 games since then, he has hit .267.

“They’re pitching me tough,” he said. “But not just to me, to the whole team. We haven’t scored many runs. There are still plenty of games. We know we’ll finish the second half will go well.”

Asked whether he was certain he could regain his early-season form, Puig laughed and replied, “Like May, yes, but April, no. I was the player of the month in May. In April, I was lost.”

Through April 30, he was batting .276. He responded by hitting .398 with eight home runs and 25 runs batted in the next month.

Puig said playing in the All-Star game last week provided him with an emotional lift and that he was particularly proud to share the stage with four other Cubans: Yoenis Cespedes of the Oakland Athletics, Aroldis Chapman of the Cincinnati Reds, and Jose Abreu and Alexei Ramirez of the Chicago White Sox.

“I have to keep working hard to return there another year,” Puig said. “Those are the things that motivate you as you try to go ahead.”

Puig smiled and looked up the clubhouse ceiling when asked about his debacle in the Home Run Derby. He didn’t hit any home runs.

Puig’s first swing in the competition was a check swing. Had he kept the bat on his shoulder, the pitch wouldn’t have counted as one of his seven outs.

He said he knew the rules.

“I rushed a little,” he said.

Smiling and gesturing with his hands, Puig continued, “If they choose me again, whether it’s next season or in 2016, I’ll do better.”

Puig was similarly upbeat when talking about the Dodgers.

Initially, he disputed the team’s offense was stalled.

“It’s been two games,” he said.

The Dodgers were also limited to two runs in the series opener Friday.

Reminded how the Dodgers scored only seven runs in a four-game series against the San Diego Padres in the days leading up to the All-Star break, Puig replied, “We didn’t score much, but we won. So it’s not that bad.”

He’s right. The Dodgers won three games in that series.

“We’re getting to where we want to be, little by little,” he said. “We’re close.

“We’ll see what happens in the second half of the season. I know it will be a lot better for me and for the rest of the team. We know where we’re trying to get, the playoffs and the World Series.”