Justin Turner is eligible to be reinstated from the 10-day injured list, but the Los Angeles Dodgers don’t anticipate having him in the lineup for the two games against the Houston Astros.
“Just kind of each day watching him progress, it’s been good, (but) don’t see it happening this weekend,” manager Dave Roberts said. “Right now, that’s probably off the table.”
Turner was placed on the IL on Sept. 1 (retroactive to Aug. 29) due to a strained left hamstring. He sustained the injury when sliding into second base on a stolen base attempt against the Texas Rangers. That came a handful of a days after Turner was hit by a pitch in his left hamstring.
“It was kind of a double whammy,” Turner recently said. He has been making steady progress with the recovery, working out before game sunder the eye of the Dodgers training staff, taking grounders from his knees and swings in the batting cage.
“We just want to make sure when he does come back, we don’t take that chance of regression,” Roberts explained. “We’re shooting for early next week in the Padres series.”
Should Turner be activated Monday, he will have a maximum of 13 games to find a rhythm at the plate for the postseason. Though, Roberts isn’t overly concerned about a potential time crunch.
“With Justin, taking 40 at-bats or something like that is more than enough,” he said. “Given where we expect him to be back by, he’ll certainly eclipse that.”
Turner celebrates 10 years
Although it came while Turner was on the IL, he reached 10 years of Major League service time last week. To celebrate the milestone, his wife Kourtney surprised Turner, his teammates, family and friends with custom bottles of El Tesoro tequila.
Kenley Jansen achieved 10 years of service time days prior to Turner. “It means a lot. We recognized both guys on two separate days,” Roberts said. “It’s a special occasion for both of them.
“The consistency, longevity, performance. Those guys do a great job of enjoying each day. Very, very proud of those guys.”
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