Turner bounces back in NLCS Game 2 for Dodgers

MILWAUKEE – A dizzying two games of moves and counter moves in this National League Championship Series produced line shifts more akin to hockey games, and pitchers facing quicker hooks than any of Joe Frazier's opponents ever dodged in the ring.

As Game 2 dragged to a close, the Milwaukee Brewers and Los Angeles Dodgers seemed to be sending a silent message that has served as an undercurrent to their industry for the past year: Everyone’s dispensable.

Yet, this National League Championship Series will head back to L.A. tied at 1-1 because, for all their exhaustive maneuvering, the Dodgers do recognize that some assets are truly essential. Like Justin Turner.

“He’s the glue for our club,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts admitted of his ginger-bearded, All-Star third baseman. “If you're talking about the grind, the tough conversations, the identity of our ball club, he's probably the face. He personifies everything that I believe in as a baseball player.”

Saturday, Turner struck the decisive blow for the Dodgers, a go-ahead, two-run home run off Jeremy Jeffress that capped a Dodger uprising some 10 innings in the making and produced a 4-3 Game 2 victory at Miller Park.

It had been 10 innings since All-Star reliever Josh Hader departed Game 1 with a 6-1 lead after throwing three scoreless innings.

From that point on, the Dodgers outscored the Brewers 8-3. They have one win to show for it, thanks to Turner’s blast.

Yet Turner’s home run – which inspired a half-dozen teammates to spill onto the infield dirt in an impromptu dance party – was the byproduct of innings and innings of the Dodgers grinding down a Brewers squad intent on neutralizing their platoon system.

The result: Everyone plays – but not too much.

Through two games, the Dodgers have used 23 of their 25 players, with only Game 3 and 4 starters Walker Buehler and Rich Hill yet to jump in the fray. The Brewers have utilized 22, though their Game 3 starter, Jhoulys Chacin, was available this weekend, manager Craig Counsell said.

It was Counsell who hooked his Game 2 starter, Wade Miley, after just 74 pitches, even though Miley was working on a shutout, had given up just two hard-hit balls and only one hit through 5 2/3 innings.

No matter.

He was pulled in the fifth inning of a shutout in Game 3 of the NL Division Series, and so it was little surprise Miley would not be allowed to face Turner and Co. a third time.

Exit Miley, enter right-hander Corbin Burnes, and you could almost hear the factory whistle blow in the Dodgers dugout. Shift change.

In came the lefty power hitters: Max Muncy, Joc Pederson and Cody Bellinger, 20-home run guys confined to the bench for the start of two games because Counsell threw lefties Miley and Gio Gonzalez at the Dodgers.

After Turner’s latest star turn, the Dodgers were careful to spread around the credit, a wise move on a team in which seven players hit at least 20 home runs.

Still, there’s little doubting who they want up with the money on the line.