Los Angeles Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner spent the majority of the time leading up to Game 4 of the National League Division Series against the New York Mets out of view. He was absent during batting practice, but stretched and ran with his teammates.
Turner has been nursing a bone bruise in his left knee, a result from a foul ball that struck him earlier in the year. He started Game 4 and continued to torment his former team, going 1-for-3 with a two-run double, driving in the two runs that proved to be the difference in the Dodgers’ 3-1 win.
“I expect JT to be able to play,” Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said Wednesday. “I don’t think there’s been a huge difference from [Tuesday] what he was able to do.”
Turner was removed from the game after he dropped down to his left knee to make a key stop and throw that ended the seventh inning.
However, that wasn’t due to Turner asking Mattingly to remove him. “JT never comes to me and says, ‘I have to come out,'” the fifth-year manager said. “It’s always a conversation of medical checking on him throughout the game.”
Coming off a 2014 campaign in which he made significant contributions off the bench as a pinch-hitter and spot-starter for Juan Uribe, Turner earned the starting job outright this season. He’s downplayed the concern over perceived knee troubles, though the Dodgers still handled him cautiously and were sure to provide ample days of rest.
Turner appeared in a career-high 126 games this season, batting .294/.370/.491 with 16 home runs, 60 RBIs, and posting a .371 wOBA and 141 wRC+.
