Coming off another strong season with the Los Angeles Dodgers in which he played himself into a starting role at third base, Justin Turner was scheduled to undergo knee surgery to clean up loose bodies.
However, the procedure, a result of fouling a pitch off the left knee, also included microfracture surgery. Despite needing a more serious operation, Turner explained during the offseason he was the beneficiary of good luck as the operated-on area was a non-weight bearing region in his knee.
The 31 year old was expected to be ready for the start of Spring Training, but the Dodgers were cautious in their handling of Turner, and he didn’t make his 2016 Cactus League debut until March 14.
He was in the lineup on Monday against the Seattle Mariners and continued with his torrid pace at the plate.
With the Dodgers trailing 2-0 in the bottom of the first inning, Turner golfed a low breaking ball from Hisashi Iwakuma for a solo home run:
Turner added an RBI double in the third inning to tie the score at 2-2, and hit another RBI double in the fifth, giving the Dodgers a 3-2 lead. He finished the day 3-for-3 with three RBIs — the Dodgers lost to the Mariners, 6-3.
Turner is batting .583/.643/1.167 (7-for-12) with one home run, four doubles and four RBIs in 14 plate appearances over five games entering Tuesday.
