PHILADELPHIA -- Interim manager Don Mattingly has fielded a handful of questions in recent days about potentially giving Trea Turner a break.
Before Monday's game, however, Mattingly emphatically stuck by his struggling shortstop.
But while Turner started Monday's series opener against the Marlins at Citizens Bank Park -- he did not finish it.
Turner departed the 7-0 win with a right wrist contusion after being struck by a 96.9 fastball from Marlins righty William Kempner. X-rays were negative.
“It looks like he's going to be sore, so we'll see,” Mattingly said. “See where that goes tomorrow.”
Turner was unavailable for comment after the game.
He remained in the game initially after being hit by the pitch in the bottom of the sixth, but he was ultimately replaced to start the eighth inning. Alec Bohm entered the game at third base and Edmundo Sosa slid over to shortstop.
Prior to exiting, Turner was 0-for-3, dropping the reigning National League batting champion's season average to .216. He has a .594 OPS that ranks 151st out of 156 qualified hitters at the time of his departure.
Despite the extended slump, Mattingly has continued to pencil Turner's name toward the top of the lineup every night.
What has made Mattingly so confident that Turner will turn it around?
"Because he’s Trea. He's always hit," Mattingly said. "... Guys who hit, hit. Trea's a great player, and he's going to be a great player for us."
Though Mattingly dropped Turner out of the leadoff spot on May 26, the skipper hasn't gotten to the point where he's considered moving Turner any lower than No. 2.
“Not really. Not at this point," Mattingly said before Monday's game. "I mean, if it gets to that point, then you consider anything that’s going to help us win. ... Trea’s a big piece of what we are [and] what we're going to be. If we're going to be really successful, we're going to need Trea."
Less than a few hours after that statement, Turner's status was suddenly up in the air.
If Turner was to miss any time, the most likely replacement would be Sosa -- but that would deeply complicate the outfield picture. For the first time all season, the Phillies had seemed to finally settle into a set outfield alignment with Brandon Marsh playing everyday alongside a pair of platoons: Sosa and Derek Hill starting vs. left-handers, and Justin Crawford and Gabriel Rincones Jr. starting vs. righties.
If Sosa is needed back in the infield, the Phillies would then lose the ability to form one of those platoons. That would force either Crawford or Rincones to start against southpaws despite both having struggled in those spots.