While the Los Angeles Dodgers are facing plenty of questions throughout their roster due to injuries, the middle of the lineup appears to be in the good hands of Adrian Gonzalez and Justin Turner.
Gonzalez has been his usual self this spring, even managing a bulging disk in his neck that forced the veteran first baseman to miss one workout last month. Meanwhile, Turner has been the Dodgers’ best hitter since making his 2016 Cactus League debut on March 14.
Turner, coming off microfracture knee surgery in the offseason, cleared all hurdles in his recovery and hasn’t shown any ill-effects of the procedure. He’s successfully fielded his position and run the bases uninhibited.
Turner started at third base and batted third on Monday night as the Dodgers hosted the Texas Rangers. He uncharacteristically was 0-for-2 when he stepped into the batter’s box in the fifth inning with the Dodgers trailing, 4-0.
One swing of the bat changed that as Turner drove Derek Holland’s 1-1 pitch over the center field fence for a game-tying grand slam:
Turner is batting .600/.652/1.200 in 23 plate appearances over eight games, with two home runs, eight RBIs and three walks. While his grand slam tied the game, Charlie Culberson delivered a walk-off base hit in the ninth inning:
