Justin Turner had a pretty bad night Friday.
For the first time in his career, he struck out four times in a game. He was charged with an error as well. And the last of those strikeouts ended Game 1 of the National League Championship Series with the tying run on third base.
But Justin Turner had a pretty good day Saturday.
His two-run home run in the eighth inning of Game 2 turned a one-run deficit into a one-run lead, grabbed the momentum for his team and transformed the NLCS into a best-of-five contest with the Dodgers holding home-field advantage. The next three games will be played at Dodger Stadium starting Monday at 4:30 p.m.
“It did upset him,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said of Turner’s feelings after failing to come through in the clutch in Game 1. “It takes a special athlete to have a night like he had last night (Friday) and to show up the next day in a big spot and want to have the bat in your hand.
“Justin is that guy and those are hard to come by.”
Not in this case. The Dodgers have spent more than $1 billion in salaries over the past five years. No return on investment has been greater than what has followed after Turner signed for $1 million as a non-roster invitee in 2014.
Matt Kemp was one of the faces of the franchise that year, Turner a role player. Returning after three seasons away, the roles have reversed.
“I think he came off the bench, and then he started playing a little bit more, and he made a great impact,” Kemp said of his recollections from Turner’s first season in L.A. “And then to now, he’s one of the best hitters in the game.
“Just by him being healthy, you know, coming back in the middle of the season from a broken hand, it showed how much our lineup needed him and how much smoother it goes when he’s in our lineup. He’s one of the guys that is the backbone of our lineup … and he makes a great impact.”
Over the past three seasons, that impact has been evident on the bottom line. The Dodgers aren’t a bad team without Turner in their lineup – 69-60, a .535 winning percentage. But they are an elite team with him – 218-140, a .609 winning percentage.
This season was the best evidence of that. Though there were obviously other factors involved, it is no coincidence that the Dodgers were languishing under .500 (16-24) when Turner missed the first 40 games of this season with that fractured wrist. When Turner struggled in the first half, playing with that healing wrist, and then missed time in midseason with an adductor muscle, the offense missed him.
It wasn’t until the second half that Turner was himself again. While Milwaukee’s Christian Yelich was putting on an MVP charge during the second half so was Turner. In 55 games after the All-Star break, he put up MVP numbers – a .356 batting average and 1.066 OPS.
“I would say frustrating to be a couple days out of breaking camp and breaking my wrist and missing almost two months. It was tough,” Turner said. “I mean, you want to be on the field. You want to be able to help your team win games, and obviously, we didn’t play very well in the beginning, which made it extra tough to feel like you couldn’t get out there and do anything to help.
“And as far as feeling normal, throughout the course of the season, I don’t think there’s too many guys that feel normal all year long. So I don’t think it’s any different than anyone else who has stuff that they’re going through. I was just dealing with my stuff.”
The 10 games he missed in late July with the adductor “stuff” gave his wrist more time to heal, Roberts said, and when he came back he came back strong – not only on the field but in the clubhouse, where his voice has grown to be the most influential in the room.
“No. 1, any time a player is active and playing, the voice has a little more weight,” Roberts said. “So whether you’re talking in a hitter’s meeting about how you want to approach a particular pitcher or staff, it carries a little more weight and also in a game, when you’re active and in the midst of playing a game. I think those conversations kind of land a little more. And that doesn’t even speak to when he’s in the batter’s box or defensively, how it affects our guys around him.”
Veteran David Freese called Turner “one of the biggest professionals I’ve ever been around – the way he goes about it, the way he plays the game.” That is high praise from someone who has had baseball luminaries like Albert Pujols and Yadier Molina as teammates.
But Turner travels in fast company in October. His postseason on-base percentage (.439) is fourth all-time behind Lou Gehrig (.483) and Babe Ruth (.470) among players with at least 125 postseason plate appearances. He has reached base safely in 34 of his past 37 postseason games, already holds the Dodgers’ franchise record for postseason RBIs (29) and is second only to Steve Garvey (.346) in postseason batting average as a Dodger (.319). His postseason OPS (.995) is 13th all-time (minimum 100 plate appearances).
“JT’s a big-moment guy,” Dodgers catcher Austin Barnes said after Saturday’s heroics. “He’s got a good tempo, a good pulse.
“I think we feel really comfortable with all of our top-of-the-lineup guys up there. They all swing it really well, but JT’s at the top of that. The way he controls ABs is kind of next-level stuff.”
.@redturn2 called Game 1 the worst of his career.
He bounced back in Game 2. #MustC pic.twitter.com/MTdnBCMXG3
— MLB (@MLB) October 14, 2018
