Heyward doesn't think thumb injury's serious

While discussing the situation, he demonstrated normal movement in the thumb, which didn't appear noticeably swollen.

Heyward injured the thumb on a slide into third base on May 14, during the opening game of the last home stand, and it had been sore to varying degrees. He got jammed on an inside pitch early in Saturday's game and the thumb was swollen when he awoke on Sunday.

"I've just got to get some of the swelling down," he said. "Pain is not the issue; it's just being able to actually bend it to hold a bat."

He didn't take Sunday batting practice and was scratched from the lineup about 40 minutes before the game. Heyward hit some off a tee, the only swings he took before pinch-hitting in the 10th inning.

The hope is that Sunday and Monday rest will give Heyward time to lose the soreness before the Braves face the Marlins, who are a half-game behind second-place Atlanta in the National League East.

"I don't know what's going to happen in Florida," manager Bobby Cox said. "Hopefully he can play."

The injury doesn't appear to have adversely affected his swing. Heyward is hitting .290 with team highs of nine home runs and 33 RBIs, and ranks among NL leaders in on-base percentage (.409) and slugging percentage (.580).

He hit .359 with 12 extra-base hits (five homers) and 17 RBIs in his past 19 games before Sunday, including three-hit games Wednesday against Cincinnati and Friday at Pittsburgh, homer and doubling in the latter.

Ross on collision: "I enjoy that stuff"

Braves catcher David Ross collided with Pittsburgh catcher Ryan Doumit on a play at the plate in the fifth inning after Braves right fielder Melky Cabrera fielded an Aki Iwamura single and fired a one-bounce throw to Ross.

As Doumit tried to score from second, Ross blocked the plate, absorbed the blow and held onto the ball for the third out.

" I kind of saw it taking place," Ross said. "Base hit to right, Melky's got a great arm, catcher running, you know it's going to be a close play. Melky gave me a great one-hop right there. [Doumit] had no choice; I took the plate away. I knew he was going to be out.

"It was great, clean play. It's part of baseball. It's fun. I enjoy that stuff."

Was Ross at all dazed by the collision?

"No," he said, smiling. "I asked [Doumit] was he all right when I got up to bat. Got to bring a lot more than that to hurt me."

Prado provides needed leadoff boost

When they stopped looking past Martin Prado, the Braves found an effective leadoff hitter.

Prado has hit .324 with two home runs, eight RBIs and a .419 OBP in nine games batting leadoff since moving from the second spot in the order.

He hit third on Sunday only because several regulars, including Jason Heyward, Chipper Jones and Brian McCann, were out of the lineup.

Prado is expected to move back to leadoff if the Braves field their regular lineup on Tuesday at Florida followed by Heyward (if his thumb is better) and Jones.

Five others who've hit leadoff -- Nate McLouth, Yunel Escobar, Matt Diaz, Melky Cabrera, Omar Infante -- had a combined .174 average with one homer, five RBIs and 31 strikeouts in 144 leadoff at-bats.

Of those five, only Escobar had an OBP as high as .290 at the top of the order, and his .357 was in 12 at-bats.

Starting Tuesday: 20 games in 20 days

Before Jason Heyward was scratched, manager Bobby Cox had replaced several other regulars on Sunday  to give them two days rest before the Braves start a demanding stretch of 20 games in 20 days.

Omar Infante was in the lineup at third base in place of Chipper Jones, catcher David Ross replaced Brian McCann and Brent Clevlen was in left field (his first major league start since 2008) in place of Eric Hinske.