As the Los Angeles Dodgers were hoping to avenge a 2017 World Series loss, they began last season without Justin Turner because of a fractured left wrist he sustained when hit by a pitch late in Spring Training.
The Dodgers proceeded to get off to the worst 40-game start in Los Angeles franchise history at 16-24, and they also dropped two more games even though Turner had returned for them. His presence in the lineup eventually helped spark a turnaround in what was a grueling season.
Now after another year that ended with falling short in the World Series, the Dodgers remain in pursuit of an elusive championship. They endured an early-season scare when Turner was hit by a pitch on the same wrist that required surgery in 2018.
Turner shook off Dodgers manager Dave Roberts and a trainer before remaining in the game. He credited a protective EvoShield pad for preventing another fracture, which Turner expects to wear for the remainder of his career, per Ken Gurnick of MLB.com:
“Hundred percent,” said Turner, who missed the first six weeks of the 2018 season, coinciding with the Dodgers’ slow start.
“Right on the spot,” said Turner. “I’ll probably never play without [the shield] again.”
The pad Turner began wearing was also a factor and proven to be effective last September when he was struck on his left wrist and sent for X-rays. In addition to playing all 13 innings the night he was hit, Turner was back in the lineup the next game, suggesting all was well.
He received a scheduled day of Sunday but appeared as a pinch-hitter in the series finale with the Arizona Diamondbacks, reaching on an error in a three-run eighth inning that propelled the Dodgers to a comeback win.
