Dodgers’ Yasiel Puig, Dee Gordon exit game because of hip injuries

Reporting from Denver —  For all the problems the Dodgers have encountered this season, they have remained relatively healthy.

Until now, perhaps.

Yasiel Puig and Dee Gordon sustained hip injuries Saturday at Coors Field, prompting their early exits from a 5-4, 10-inning defeat against the Colorado Rockies.

Puig strained his left hip flexor and Gordon experienced “discomfort” in his right hip, according to the Dodgers. For what it’s worth, both players were listed as day to day by the team, which is notoriously unreliable in providing accurate medical information.

Puig was noticeably limping after the game and said he was uncertain how long he would be sidelined. He was injured in the fourth inning, when he slid awkwardly into second base on a failed attempt to break up an inning-ending double play. He played right field in the bottom of the fourth, but was replaced by Scott Van Slyke in the fifth.

“When I went to break up the double play, my leg locked and I felt something in the muscle,” Puig said in Spanish.

Between innings, Puig tried to run indoors, but said he couldn’t.

“I didn’t want to come out, but if I continued running the way I always run, which is at 100%, the trainer said I would hurt it more,” he said. “I told him it was his call. He said it could be as little as one or two days or up to a couple of weeks, so he decided to take me out.”

As for Gordon, he was confident he would be back in the lineup in a day or two.

He said he first felt pain in his right leg when he woke up Saturday morning.

“It was just something weird,” Gordon said. “I thought it was going to go away. It just kind of didn’t.”

Gordon played the first three innings and was replaced by Chone Figgins at second base in the bottom of the fourth inning.

Losing Puig or Gordon for an extended period of time could be potentially devastating for the Dodgers. Asked whether they were the team’s two most valuable position players, Greinke replied, “Probably. Puig obviously is. Dee carried us in the first month. Even though he hasn’t hit as much, he’s still been a terrific player in ways he can.”

Puig leads the Dodgers with a .335 average and Gordon is second at .284.

With 11 home runs and 40 runs batted in, Puig figures to be a legitimate triple-crown threat, provided he remains on the field. Gordon tops the major leagues with 36 steals.

Excluding Puig and Gordon, the player the highest batting average on the active roster is starting pitcher Clayton Kershaw at .267. Behind Kershaw are Justin Turner (.264), Van Slyke (.258) and Hanley Ramirez (.254).

Puig and Gordon might also be the team’s two best defensive players on the active roster.

“You just hope it’s nothing serious,” Greinke said. “If it’s just a game or two, it won’t be that big of a deal.”

As it is, the Dodgers have three position players on the disabled list: catcher A.J. Ellis, third baseman Juan Uribe and left fielder Carl Crawford.

Whereas the Dodgers have depth in the outfield — Crawford is expected to be activated Thursday and top prospect Joc Pederson could be called up from triple-A Albuquerque — they have almost little cover behind Gordon.

Their farmhand who was closest to being major league ready was Alex Guerrero, who is still recovering from a vicious ear-biting attack.

For however long Gordon is sidelined, if at all, the Dodgers figure to have some combination of Turner, Figgins and Miguel Rojas at second and third base.