Zobrist dislocates thumb on slide into second

SEATTLE -- Ben Zobrist left Wednesday afternoon's 2-0 win against the Mariners with a dislocated left thumb, and it is likely he will go on the disabled list.

Rays manager Joe Maddon said the team would decide on Thursday how to proceed. Zobrist acknowledged that he would be surprised if he did not go on the disabled list.

"They want it to heal properly," said Zobrist, noting that the injury usually takes a couple of weeks to heal.

"We don't want an unstable joint or anything like that going forward in the future," Zobrist added. "Thankfully it's on the top joint instead of the lower joint of the thumb, which is a little bit less important."

After hitting a one-out single in the fifth, Zobrist was thrown out trying to steal second base. He slid into the base head first, and after appearing to jam his left hand on the bag he got up, holding it, and called to the Rays' bench.

"Was stealing second, and I tried to avoid the tag, kinda did a little swim move, stuck my thumb in there and jammed it, either into the ground or into the base," Zobrist said. "When I looked at it I knew it was dislocated."

Zobrist did not go back into the field to play defense in the bottom half of the inning. Sean Rodriguez took Zobrist's place at second base.

After team trainers had a difficult time trying to pop his thumb back into place, Zobrist saw a doctor and had X-rays to make sure there was not a fracture. Then the thumb was popped back into place.

"Best-case scenario is that it heals very quickly and I can get back on the field, maybe within a week," Zobrist said. "But that's unlikely, I think. I think they're trying to decide right now whether we need to go on the DL or not. We'll see what decision is made."