No DL stint, but Yelich likely to miss rest of trip

WASHINGTON -- The Marlins are not anticipating placing Christian Yelich on the disabled list, but it also appears doubtful the 23-year-old left fielder will be able to play on this six-game road trip.

Yelich aggravated his bruised right knee while diving back to first base on Tuesday night and played through the injury on Wednesday before sitting out the next two games. The best guess on when he returns is after the swelling in the knee subsides.

"I feel all right," Yelich said Friday. "It's kind of to the point where I came back and the only question was could it stand up to the impact? I didn't really test it, impact-wise -- diving and sliding."

Yelich went on the DL on Aug. 15, retroactive to Aug. 10, with a bruised knee. He was reinstated on Tuesday, which was the first day he was eligible to come back. But after reaching first base in the fifth inning, he dove back to the base on a pickoff attempt.

"That's what kind of blew it up," Yelich said. "I was fine, as far as running, swinging and throwing and all of that. I've got to wait for the swelling to go back down now and wait until I'm able to do some impact stuff. It's going to be a circle."

With rosters expanding this coming Tuesday, it is doubtful the Marlins will place Yelich on the DL.

Derek Dietrich started in left field on Friday night. And next Friday, the Marlins are likely to have Giancarlo Stanton, out with a broken left hamate bone, back from the DL.

"We haven't really talked about DL or not DL," Yelich said. "We haven't got to that point. It's been tough. It's one of those years where nothing has gone right. It is what it is."

Yelich spent time on the DL in April with a lower back injury. He's appeared in 94 games and is batting .275 with six home runs and 30 RBIs.

"I tip my hat to him for him to come back and try to play the two games," manager Dan Jennings said. "We're going to go on his time. He wants to be back out there. I think he showed that by coming off the DL after 15 [days]. When he's comfortable, knowing he can move around and do baseball activities -- whether it be getting back into the base or running the bases -- then he will be back.

"We've said as a staff, all we'd like to do down the stretch is have all of the guys healthy and then let's see how we can end the season, hopefully on a positive note with our best guys on the field."