Yasiel Puig out of Dodgers lineup and headed for MRI exam on thumb

Yasiel Puig, the never-ending story …

The Dodgers’ uber-talented outfielder was not in the lineup Sunday aginst the Giants and left the clubhouse early to have an MRI exam on his sore left thumb.

Puig injured the thumb Saturday sliding head-first into first base in the third inning. He remained in the game and played the full nine innings, but the thumb was sore enough that he had X-rays done after the game.

The X-rays came back negative, but the Dodgers decided to send him for the MRI exam Sunday afternoon.

“It was pretty swollen, actually,” said Dodgers Manager Don Mattingly. “I don’t think we expect it to be anything major. I watched them kind of check him out and he seemed to be tender when they were touching certain areas, other ones he was not. It’s kind of similar to what he had last year.”

Puig hurt the thumb last year while still with Double-A Chattanooga and injured his left hand in August diving for a ball at Wrigley Field.

The Dodgers have an off-day on Monday before beginning a two-game series here against the Tigers.

“We’re hoping for the best, that he would maybe be able to pinch hit or something tonight,” Mattingly said. “I’m not sure if that’s going to happen. To me, the second scenario is that ... he gets the day off, tomorrow off and basically almost all the next day, which is almost three days. So hopefully he’ll be ready for that one.”

Mattingly said the injury did not seem so severe, and that if this were later in the year during a crucial point in the season, Puig could have played.

Mattingly said he would hope Puig would stop sliding head-first into first, but did not exactly sound hopeful.

“That would be good advice, but with Nick Punto, they advised him for years and he kept doing it,” Mattingly said. “It’s hard to stop guys from what they do naturally. Obviously we don’t want guys to be going head-first into first. It would be nice if they didn’t go head-first into anywhere, but that’s kinda how they do it.”