"The last thing the Rays need after scoring two runs on eight hits in the first two games is for their best hitter to go on the DL.

They'll know more about All-Star 3B Evan Longoria today after he's evaluated for a sore left oblique muscle that caused him to leave Saturday night's game after the fifth inning.

"It doesn't feel like something that's going to keep me off the field for a long time," Longoria said, predicting he'll miss no more than a week. "I've never had an oblique (injury), so I don't know what a real serious one is supposed to (feel like)."

Manager Joe Maddon met with vice president for baseball operations Andrew Friedman for several minutes after the Rays' 3-1 loss and said no determination was made about whether Longoria will go on the DL.

"We just had to discuss some things," Maddon said. "We have to get him evaluated and then make a determination."

Longoria went 0-for-1 with a walk and a line-out to center before being replaced by Sean Rodriguez in the top of the sixth inning.

Longoria led the Rays with 104 RBIs last year while batting .294 and hitting 22 home runs. He said he first started experiencing the soreness in the batting cage before the game.

"Obviously, I didn't get off to the best start (Friday) night, so I'm the kind of guy that wants to get in the cage and take more swings," Longoria said. "The more swings I took today, the more sore it got. Probably the best thing to do was to try to not injure it anymore.""