Justin Turner's two HRs lift Dodgers over Padres
On May 18, Justin Turner hit a threerun home run against Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Zach Davies. It was his fourth home run of the season, and it was the difference in a two-run victory.
Turner batted another 145 times going into Thursday's game against the San Diego Padres. The seasons changed, the baseball enlivened, but the 37-year-old third baseman did not hit a home run. It was the longest he's gone without a homer, in terms of games or plate appearances, in a major league career that began in 2009.
That changed in a big way Thursday. Turner hit two home runs against Padres starter Joe Musgrove, accounting for all of the Dodgers' runs in a 3-1 victory before an announced sold-out crowd of 53,094 at Dodger Stadium.
Turner's offensive heroics made the Dodgers' pitching efforts stand up. Mitch White, Justin Bruihl, Evan Phillips (2-3), Alex Vesia and Craig Kimbrel combined to limit San Diego to seven hits and one run. The win put the Dodgers (47-28) 2 1/2 games ahead of the Padres (4632) in the National League West standings.
In the top of the first inning, a sinking fly ball off Manny Machado's bat ricocheted off Gavin Lux's glove in left field. Two batters later, Nomar Mazara lined an 0-and-2 curveball from White into center field for a single, giving San Diego the game's first run.
Turner went to work in the bottom of the second inning. He took advantage of a 1-and-1 fastball over the plate from Musgrove, sending it soaring over the left-center field fence. The game was tied 1-1.
White settled in nicely after the rough first inning. He pitched out of trouble with runners in scoring position on multiple occasions over 4 2/3 innings, allowing six hits and a walk while striking out three. The right-hander lowered his earned-run average to 3.93 in his sixth start of the season — his second since returning from Triple-A
Chris Taylor made the defensive play of the game with one out in the second inning, catching a fly ball in right field and throwing a one-hopper to home plate to retire Trent Grisham attempting to tag up and score from third base.
The Dodgers could not mount a rally against Musgrove. Max Muncy appeared to have a double in the fourth inning, but he was tagged out at second base when he accidentally lost contact with the bag popping up at the end of his slide.
The game was still tied 1-1 when Muncy worked an 8-pitch walk in the seventh inning. Turner, the next batter, saw three pitches from Musgrove and hit the third — a 90-mph cutter down the middle of the plate — 404 feet to rightcenter field for a home run. It was the 13th multihomer game of his career.
Musgrove (8-2) allowed only five hits and struck out 10 batters, but was stuck with his second loss of the season.