Turner turning up the heat offensively

Dodgers third baseman homers twice, hits walk-off single

June 18th, 2016

LOS ANGELES -- Hard to tell if his dugout dustup with teammate Yasmani Grandal will spark the Dodgers, but Justin Turner sure is on fire.
He slugged two homers and delivered a walk-off, bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 3-2 win over the Brewers Friday night at Dodger Stadium, further evidence that the run producer the Dodgers were waiting for in April and May has finally shown up.
"We joked around that we should start having sleepovers at the kids' house (roommates Corey Seager, Trayce Thompson and Joc Pederson) because they were the ones hitting home runs," said Turner.
Turner, who had one home run through May 19, has five in the last 12 games, with 11 RBIs, giving him eight homers and 27 RBIs on the season.
All of this occurred the night after he and Grandal got into it over the latter's baserunning mistake that nearly cost the run-starved offense a score in an eventual 8-6 loss.
But that was then. On Friday, Grandal was in the dugout with a high-five for both of Turner's home runs and in the mix when the dugout emptied to celebrate with Turner on the infield.
"What happened last night was done and over with," Turner said. "We showed up today like nothing ever happened."
"I think that's nice and it looks great and it makes a great story, but I think even for JT, just his vocal leadership and the way he cares and prepares and plays the game every day, that in itself for me is enough," said manager Dave Roberts. "But obviously when you respond to something like that and are productive the next day, yeah. But I think even without that he made his point and lives it every day."
Turner gave starter Julio Urias an early lead with a two-out solo homer in the first inning off a Zach Davies curveball. With two out in the bottom of the eighth, he tied the game with another solo homer, this one off Tyler Thornburg, one pitch after nearly being drilled in the ribs.
"I was disappointed it missed me," Turner said. "I thought 100 percent it would hit me. Guess I got lucky, because I got a good pitch to hit on the next one."
Then came the game-winner in the 10th, an inning that started with newcomer Will Venable's ground-rule double in the right-field corner. A.J. Ellis, batting for winning reliever Pedro Baez, bunted Venable to third and it took a review to determine that Ellis was out at first. Brewers manager Craig Counsell then intentionally walked Chase Utley and Seager to load the bases for Turner, despite his earlier damage.

Turner said he wasn't surprised with the strategy.
"I think it's what you do there," he said. "You set up the force at home, especially with a heavy sinker guy (closer Jeremy Jeffress). "I faced him last night and he threw me a first-pitch breaking ball. I got a base hit on a sinker. I hit the homers on breaking balls, so I figured he'd attack me with a fastball."
Turner fouled off three fastballs before drilling a curveball over third baseman Aaron Hill to win it.