Turner, Freeman swap the MLB lead in hits
The Dodgers’ Trayce Thompson hits a two-run home run in the second inning Friday night in Denver.
DENVER » In Trea Turner’s first atbat Friday night, he lined a single through the left side of the Rockies’ infield.
This was nothing new.
The hit was Turner’s 125th of the season — the most in the major leagues — and extended his current hitting streak to 16 games. He has also had hitting streaks of 27 and 26 games with the Dodgers. That’s what happens when you get hits in 85 of 99 games, as Turner has this season.
Turner took over the MLB lead in hits with his three-hit game Thursday night, passing teammate Freddie Freeman.
Teammates have not finished 1-2 in hits since 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki led the majors (242) and teammate Bret Boone tied for second (206).
“He wants 200 hits and so do I,” Turner said of Freeman. “It’s going to be, not a race, hopefully we can both get there.
“For me, I just like that stat in general because you have to play a lot. Counting stats are kind of going out the door. Everybody’s about efficiency and whatnot, which is important. But it’s hard to hit a lot of those counting numbers if you don’t play a lot. That means a lot of things — whether it’s luck or good health or consistency. But it’s something to take pride in. Hopefully, we can get there.”
Neither Turner nor Freeman has had a 200-hit season. Turner came closest (195) while winning the batting title last year and Freeman had 191 in 2018.
Neither has missed a game this season, giving them ample opportunity to add to their hit totals.
“It signifies they post. That’s No. 1,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They just take good at-bats. Trea is more of a hit collector where Freddie will take the walk and not expand. But I will give Trea credit. He’s shrunk the strike zone a lot too and is still collecting a lot of hits. But that’s just the mark of two guys who want to play every day.”
In a baseball world now populated by increasingly sophisticated — and complicated — statistics, Roberts said there is still fundamental value in getting a lot of base hits.
“I think, and I’ve said this for quite some time, that hits, (batting) average, still matter,” Roberts said. “When you face good pitching to try to win 11 playoff games in October where you’re not going to get a lot of free passes and you’re going to face the best pitching and matching up, you still got to have the bat-to-ball (skill) and you still have to know how to drive runs in and get on base. So average certainly matters.
“If you can hit and get on base and earn your way on, that goes in that on-base bucket too. The average speaks to bat-to-ball. In this game, there’s just so much swing and miss, the guys who can hit .300, there’s bat-to-ball and if there’s bat-to-ball, there’s less punch (strikeout).”
Turner finished fifth in the National League MVP voting last year, even as he changed teams in midseason. Roberts sees MVPlevel play again this year from his shortstop.
“Since the middle of May, he’s really amplified his level of play on both sides of the baseball,” Roberts said. “He’s a hit collector, loves to play. But I think that just on the margins, he’s become an even better player than he already was.”
Turner caution
Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner missed five games with an abdominal injury — which he described as feeling like there was “a gremlin” in the front of his ribcage — but returned to play Wednesday. He has not played since, however, and Roberts said Turner will not likely play at all during the series in Colorado.
Roberts said the Dodgers’ trainers believe Turner is “out of the woods” with the ab injury but “we don’t want to take any chances on any backsliding.”
If he doesn’t play against the Rockies, that would be nine out of 10 games Turner would miss.
Turner said it is “just being cautious” rather than risk aggravating the injury and the Dodgers’ big lead in the NL West affords them room to err on the side of caution.
“I wouldn’t say it’s completely gone. It’s just being careful to make sure there’s not a big setback,” Turner said Friday. “It doesn’t really make sense to push it right now and do something that could be a big setback and miss a lot of time. We’re in a nice spot. We’re pretty good (in the standings) so just taking it really slow. Just really trying to be patient with it.”
Duffy update
Left-hander Danny Duffy’s recovery from flexor tendon surgery last fall has largely taken place unnoticed. But Roberts said Duffy has recently taken “a significant step” in his recovery by throwing to hitters at the Dodgers’ complex in Arizona. Acquired at the trade deadline last year even though he was out with the recurring flexor injury, Duffy was unable to progress to that step at any point with the Dodgers before undergoing surgery in November. Roberts said Duffy’s fastball has been “sitting 92-93 (mph). It’s been really good” in these live BP sessions.
“I think for us, it’s just seeing the recovery and the consistency, feel good for a week and then not regress,” Roberts said. “That’s kind of what we’ve been dealing with. So it’s encouraging where he’s at right now.”
Duffy could go on a minorleague injury rehabilitation assignment in the next couple of weeks, Roberts said, but there is no projected date for when he might be able to join the Dodgers.
Primarily a starter throughout his career, the Dodgers view the 33-year-old Duffy as a reliever now.