The Los Angeles Dodgers led for six innings Friday night, then found themselves in a battle of the bullpens with the Washington Nationals. Joc Pederson’s walk against left-hander Tony Sipp began to tilt the scale in the Dodgers’ favor, and Justin Turner cemented that.
Pederson’s two-out walk in the eighth inning was followed by Alex Verdugo pulling a base hit into right field. That prompted Nationals manager Dave Martinez to summon Kyle Barraclough, who had been recalled from Triple-A hours earlier, to face Turner.
Barraclough’s first fastball was fouled off. Two more caused Turner to spin out of the way. Barraclough’s fifth pitch of the at-bat went sailing over the fence in left-center field for what held as a game-winning, three-run home run.
It was the only hit Turner had in the game, a timely one to be certain. The home run was Turner’s second in as many games, 15th of the season, 100th with the Dodgers and 108th overall in his career.
He voiced appreciation and sense of accomplishment with reaching the milestone and a hope his bat will provide plenty more, via SportsNet LA
“It’s crazy. That’s a lot of homers for me and something I didn’t really think was a possibility. It’s fun, it was a big one. Glad I made it count. Hopefully there’s many more to come.”
Turner is the 29th player to hit at least 100 home runs with the Dodgers. The list figures to grow to 30 in the coming days as Cody Bellinger is just two away. The next-closest active player is Yasmani Grandal, who hit 89 homers in a Dodgers uniform.
Duke Snider is the all-time franchise leader with 389 career home runs, while Eric Karros holds the L.A. record with 270.
Now in his sixth season with the Dodgers, Turner has either tied or set multiple franchise records along the way.
During the 2015 National League Division Series, he went 10-for-19 with six doubles, four RBI, two runs scored and one walk against his former New York Mets club. His 10 hits were the most ever by a Dodgers player in a Division Series and the most by a Dodger in any postseason series since Steve Garvey had 10 hits in the 1981 World Series.
Furthermore, Turner’s six doubles tied an MLB record and set a Dodgers franchise record for most in a single postseason series. The next year he extended a postseason streak of reaching base safely to 15 consecutive games, setting a new franchise record.
Carl Furillo reached in 14 straight postseason games for the Brooklyn Dodgers from 1953-56. Of Turner’s streak, 10 games came during the 2016 postseason.
Then through the 2017 postseason, Turner tied Snider’s Dodgers RBI postseason record with 26. Snider reached the mark in Game 6 of the 1959 World Series, which was his 36th and final playoff game.
Turner matched Snider in his 27th postseason game with the Dodgers. He broke the tie
against the Atlanta Braves in Game 3 of the 2018 NLDS, and has 30 career postseason RBI.
In terms of the regular season, Turner is closing in on holding the Dodgers all-time record for hit by pitch. He’s been plunked 70 times while with the team, which trails only Hughie Jennings (73) and Jackie Robinson (72).
There was a stretch this year where Turner was hit by a pitch in four consecutive games, which set an L.A. franchise record and tied the organization’s all-time mark. Jennings was also hit in four consecutive games from Sept. 6-20, 1900, while playing for Brooklyn.
