Dodgers send Hyun-Jin Ryu home for shoulder exam

MIAMI -- The Dodgers have apparently grown more concerned with Hyun-Jin Ryu’s sore left shoulder, sending the pitcher home Sunday to be examined by Dr. Neal ElAttrache on Monday.

The team put Ryu on the disabled list Friday with shoulder inflammation but appeared so unconcerned with the condition that they didn’t even order an MRI exam. But with the left-hander unable to pitch until he comes off the DL next week, the team decided to get a more thorough examination done.

“Hopefully there’s nothing major there,” pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said Sunday. “Hopefully just this little time off will correct itself and get him back in the rotation. We’ll find out in the next few days about that.”

Ryu is the third Dodger starter to go on the DL this season after Josh Beckett and Clayton Kershaw. The team hasn’t had its top five pitchers in the rotation at the same time all season.

Ryu is 3-2 with a 3.00 ERA in a team-high seven starts. Right-hander Stephen Fife was called up from Triple A Albuquerque to take his place in the rotation Sunday.

Fife is the second minor leaguer to start for the Dodgers in the last four days. Red Patterson started in the first game of Thursday’s doubleheader in Minnesota.