Dodgers’ Matt Kemp, just off disabled list, could go back on it

TORONTO — Matt Kemp soon could be back on the disabled list.

Over the next day or two, the Dodgers’ medical staff will determine whether a sprained left ankle will require that Kemp be put on the disabled list for the third time this season. Kemp’s ankle was still considerably swollen Monday.

“I don’t know if we really know how bad it is,� Manager Don Mattingly said.

Mattingly backtracked from comments he made the previous day, when he said he was confident Kemp would avoid the DL. Kemp rolled his ankle in a home-plate collision Sunday in his first game back from his latest DL stint.

“I probably don’t feel as good about it today as I did yesterday,� Mattingly said. “It could go the wrong direction.�

Even if the swelling in Kemp’s ankle subsides quickly, Mattingly said he probably will sit out the Dodgers’ three-game series in Toronto against the Blue Jays.

Kemp underwent a precautionary X-ray exam Monday. Results were negative.

Kemp has already spent 35 games on the disabled list this year. He strained his right hamstring in late May and irritated the AC joint in his left shoulder earlier this month.

Yasiel Puig started in Kemp’s place in center field Monday. Skip Schumaker was in right field and Carl Crawford was in left. Andre Ethier was the designated hitter.

Ethier has made the majority of starts in center field in Kemp’s absence and will probably start there in the remaining games in Toronto, according to Mattingly. Puig would move back to right field.

“Luckily, we’re in the American League, where it’s not quite the same,� Mattingly said before the Dodgers’ 14-5 victory over the Blue Jays. “You don’t need all the extra players. We feel we can kind of get by. With the DH, you don’t worry about it quite as much.�

Puig watch

Puig drove in his first run since July 4, with a second-inning single that scored Mark Ellis. The hit was Puig’s first since the Dodgers returned from the All-Star break.

Puig finished one for five with two strikeouts and was hit by a pitch. However, he made one of the most spectacular plays of the game, running down and catching an eighth-inning drive hit by J.P. Arencibia in right-center field before crashing into the wall.

Fife back on the mound

Stephen Fife, who is on the DL because of shoulder inflammation, pitched for triple-A Albuquerque as part of a minor league rehabilitation assignment. Fife was charged with two runs and four hits in four innings.

Fife last pitched for the Dodgers on July 6. Chris Capuano will start in his place Tuesday in Toronto.

Short hops

Ethier doubled twice to reach 20 doubles for the season. He has 20 or more doubles in each of his last eight seasons. The last Dodger to have a streak that long was Eric Karros, who had 20 or more doubles in 11 consecutive seasons from 1992-2002. . . . Reliever Jose Dominguez felt tightness in his quadriceps after recording the final two outs of the sixth inning.

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