Turner homers twice, hits walk-off 1B vs. Crew

June 18th, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- Justin Turner's second home run on Friday night tied the game in the bottom of the eighth inning and his bases-loaded single with one out in the 10th inning gave the the Dodgers a 3-2 walk-off win over the Brewers.
"Hit some balls hard where guys weren't standing and it was enough to win a game, which is the most important thing," said Turner. "I feel like I've been taking quality at-bats all year long and just haven't had the results, but on the last road trip started getting better results."
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Milwaukee starter Zach Davies allowed only Turner's first-inning home run in his seven innings, while Dodgers teenager Julio Urias struck out eight in five scoreless innings, exiting in position for his first Major League victory. He threw 85 pitches and is expected to make only one more start before being throttled back to limit his innings.
But the Brewers scored twice off the Dodgers' bullpen in the sixth inning on doubles by Ryan Braun, Jonathan Lucroy and Scooter Gennett. Turner, one game after his heated dugout exchange with teammate Yasmani Grandal, homered off Tyler Thornburg with two out in the eighth and has five home runs in the last 12 games after having only one through May 19.
In the 10th off Milwaukee closer Jeremy Jeffress, Will Venable led off with a ground-rule double and was bunted to third by A.J. Ellis. Chase Utley and Corey Seagerwere walked intentionally to load the bases for Turner, who lined his single over third baseman Aaron Hill.
"The strategy is sound. We just hung a curveball, made a bad pitch," Brewers catcher Lucroy said. "He's a hot hitter and he made us pay."
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Thorny situation:
Thornburg was the winning pitcher in Thursday's series opener, and when he opened the eighth inning Friday with consecutive outs, he had retired 35 of the last 36 hitters he'd faced. Turner interrupted that run of excellence by connecting with a full-count curveball on the inner half, sending it high and deep to left field for a 2-2 tie.

Quiet bats: The Dodgers' offense, batting .197 in the previous 10 games, saw 13 of 14 batters retired by Davies between Trayce Thompson's two-out walk in the first inning and Seager's one-out single in the sixth. Davies exited with a 2-1 lead after seven innings, and lowered his ERA to 2.40 over his last eight starts. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said Turner's power has returned with a pull emphasis.
"I think for me, as we talked about a couple weeks ago, my eyes tell me that he needed to elevate the ball to the pull side," said Roberts. "You look at the last couple of weeks, that's what he's done." All three of his hits went to left field. More >

Sorry, kid: Urias left the game in line for his first victory, but that didn't last long. Braun and Lucroy opened the sixth with consecutive doubles against Dodgers reliever Louis Coleman, tying the game at 1, four pitches into the inning. Three batters later, Gennett knocked another double down the left-field line off lefty Adam Liberatore for a 2-1 lead. But that flurry of hits was an anomaly; the Brewers finished 3-for-13 with runners in scoring position and stranded 13 runners on base.
"To me, the story of the game is we left chances out there," Counsell said. "We couldn't add on runs when we had an opportunity to give [Davies and the Brewers' relievers] a little bit of a cushion."

Short starts: The five-inning start by Urias left four more innings for the Dodgers' bullpen, which picked up five innings the night before. Except for Clayton Kershaw games, Dodgers starters have been unable to pitch more than six innings in 24 of their last 26 starts. On the season, Dodgers starters have pitched more than six innings 24 times, 13 of them by Kershaw.
"The main thing is that the team won and that's all that really matters to me," said Urias. More >

QUOTABLE
"It was an outstanding performance by Zach. He continues to impress, continues to keep hitters off-balance. They almost got less comfortable as the game went on." -- Counsell on Davies
SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS
If Braun looks right at home at Dodger Stadium, it's because he is. Braun grew up in the L.A. suburb of Granada Hills, 25 miles away, and attended dozens of Dodgers games as a fan before making it to the Major Leagues. Including his four hits in the first two games of this series, Braun is 33-for-95 lifetime at this ballpark. He was also hit by a pitch for the first time this season when a Joe Blanton fastball nailed Braun in the back in the seventh.
Prior to Turner, the last Dodger to have a walk-off RBI after homering twice earlier in the game was Don Demeter on April 21, 1959, vs. the Giants, according to Stats LLC. Demeter had homered twice already when he came to bat in the 11th inning, and then he hit third for the walk-off win.
ON FURTHER REVIEW
The Dodgers challenged an out call by first-base umpire Jordan Baker on Ellis' sacrifice bunt in the bottom of the 10th inning. The call was confirmed.

WHAT'S NEXT
Brewers:Chase Anderson opposes good buddy Mike Bolsinger in the 9:10 p.m. CT start. The two met as 15-year-old teammates in north Texas, then were rivals in college, teammates in the D-backs' Minor League system, and stood up in each others' weddings. Yet they have never faced each other in the same game. That ends Saturday night.
Dodgers: After back-to-back short starts from Scott Kazmir and Julio Urias, the Dodgers need length from Bolsinger, who is averaging only five innings per start this year. In three career starts against Milwaukee, Bolsinger is 0-1 with a 4.67 ERA. His first pitch is scheduled for 7:10 p.m. PT.
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