The Los Angeles Dodgers slugged three home runs to come away with a 4-3 victory in Thursday’s series opener against the San Francisco Giants.
The club jumped out to an early 2-0 lead courtesy of Justin Turner’s home run in the third inning, which was his second in the past three games.
Turner also homered in Tuesday’s series opener against the Houston Astros — his first since May 4 — as part of a 2-for-5 effort. “I’ve been feeling a lot better,” he said this week.
“Feel like I’m taking good at-bats, quality contact, driving balls, just haven’t been really getting rewarded for them. So it felt good to get a couple good results tonight, drive in some runs and get a victory.”
Prior to the Dodgers’ series against the Astros, Turner had been mired in a 1-for-26 slump. “I always ride the process,” Turner answered when asked if he made any adjustments to his swing.
“Hitting is a trade that nobody will master, so you’ve still got to show up and put in the work. It’s constant adjustments, tinkering and trying to get the right feels until you know you’ve got it. I feel like I’m in a pretty good spot right now.”
Even amid Turner’s struggles at the plate, the Dodgers were still finding ways to win. The club is 12-2 in their last 14 games and have pulled to within half a game of first place in the National League West standings.
“It just seems like we’re doing a good right now of finding ways to win games instead of finding ways to give them away. It was obviously a rough couple weeks there where we weren’t getting good results,” Turner said.
“Whether it was not making a pitch, or not getting a big hit, or not making a play on defense, it just seemed like it was game after game of finding ways to give them away. Now it feels like we’re back to process oriented and doing the little things to win ballgames.”
Turner: Dodgers’ track record was key to ending losing skid
Turner believes the experience in the Dodgers clubhouse has been pivotal in helping the team return to their winning ways. “I think there’s a lot of guys in the clubhouse there in ’17 when we went through a brutal stretch in September,” he said.
“It’s just one of those things that it doesn’t matter how good you are on paper, it doesn’t matter if you’re supposed to win a baseball game or not, you’ve got to show up and do all the little things, play the game the right way and make stuff happen.
“We were in a little funk, but we turned a corner. I don’t know if it has anything to do with Albert and Yoshi coming in and having a little different feel in the clubhouse with those guys.
“The energy is different, obviously, with Albert in here and with what he means to a lot of these guys — myself included. We all really look up to him and lean on him for advice in conversations. He’s been incredible for us in our clubhouse since he’s been here.”
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