Turner stays positive after frustrating game: 'I'm in a good spot'
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PHILADELPHIA -- Trea Turner had his reasons to be upset.
Turner committed two errors in Monday night’s 3-2 loss to the Orioles at Citizens Bank Park. Then he struck out looking in the fifth inning on a 1-2 sinker that appeared to be below the strike zone. Turner turned to home-plate umpire Will Little to express his disbelief.
“What?!” Turner said.
As Turner offered his take on the pitch, he tossed his bat and helmet to the side. Turner said Little told him to stop. Turner said he could toss his equipment toward his dugout if he wanted. Little ejected him.
“For what?!” Turner said.
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It was Turner’s third ejection in the big leagues, but his first since Sept. 8, 2019.
“I’ve said a lot worse and not gotten ejected,” he said. “I guess he felt that was a line.”
The strikeout and ejection encapsulated a frustrating stretch for the Phillies and a frustrating season for Turner. Philadelphia (53-47) has lost five of six games to fall a half-game behind the Marlins and Giants, who are tied for the third National League Wild Card spot. The 1-5 skid will not change the front office’s approach as the Aug. 1 Trade Deadline nears. President of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski believes this team can win the World Series. But the timing of this slump is not ideal.
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“We have a very good chance to be where we were last year,” Bryce Harper said of the defending NL champions. “I have all the faith in the world in Dave Dombrowski to do what he thinks is best for this team. I think everybody should. He does an incredible job. Whatever that may be, whichever way we’re going to go, I think he’ll bring the best player or players into this clubhouse to help us succeed. Whatever that may be, I have all the faith in him and [managing partner] John Middleton to help us out.”
The Phillies need a more consistent offense. They have scored two runs or fewer in three of their past five losses.
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Turner can help. He went 0-for-3 on Monday before he got ejected, but he is batting .269 with five home runs, 18 RBIs, 13 stolen bases and a .752 OPS since a 4-for-5 game on June 5. Still, Turner's season OPS has been under .700 every day since May 17, and he's hitting .247 with a .687 OPS overall. Turner has not batted lower than .298 or had worse than an .809 OPS since 2018.
“Mentally, I feel good,” Turner said. “Yesterday, I felt really good. Just be aggressive, be myself and kind of forget about all that stuff and everything that’s happened early in the year. … I feel like I’m in a good spot.”
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Edmundo Sosa replaced Turner at shortstop in the sixth and made a clean play for the third out. Phillies fans cheered.
Turner knows fans are frustrated with him. “I have high expectations for myself, too,” he said.
It is easy to be down on Turner. But it would be a mistake to say that he cannot play up to his potential in the season’s final two months.
“He’s one of the best players in the league for a reason,” Harper said. “He’ll get going. We trust in him to be the best, and he’ll do that.”
The Phillies managed seven hits against the Orioles, though they should have had at least eight. Baltimore center fielder Aaron Hicks dropped Johan Rojas’ fly ball while making a diving attempt in the third, but his body blocked the view of everybody in front of him, and umpires ruled it a catch. By the time Philadelphia’s replay room got a good view of the play, its time to request a review had expired.
The Philies had runners on first and second with no outs in the eighth. They wanted Sosa to bunt to advance the runners, but he could not execute it. Instead, he lined into a double play.
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“He needs to get the bunt down, for sure,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said.
Harper singled to put runners on first and second. Nick Castellanos followed with a single to left-center field to score Kyle Schwarber with the tying run. Harper was running with the pitch, and third-base coach Dusty Wathan waved him home. It was a justifiable send with two outs and a team struggling to score.
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Shortstop Jorge Mateo’s relay from Colton Cowser got Harper by a hair.
“It was a good opportunity to run,” Harper said. “I thought I had a great jump at first base. It short-hopped the center fielder. A good relay. Maybe if I slide headfirst possibly, or I get my foot in there, I’m safe. Good baseball play.”