Coming off a season in which they fell one game short of winning a World Series, the Los Angeles Dodgers got off to one of their worst starts in franchise history in 2018.
Part of that was because they were missing All-Star third baseman Justin Turner after he fractured his wrist during Spring Training. Turner has since returned though and the Dodgers have won four straight games.
The winning streak was built upon salvaging a series against the lowly Miami Marlins, followed by sweeping a potential playoff opponent in the Washington Nationals, which was completed with a 7-2 victory on Sunday afternoon.
The Dodgers are now just five games out of first place in the National League West at 20-26, and Turner believes that they may have reached a turning point in their season on this road trip, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“A little bit of success kind of breeds confidence and takes that monkey off your back,” said Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner, who returned from his wrist injury at the start of this trip. “Get on a roll here, keep the momentum going. I think the confidence is back that they’re going to take a good at-bat every time. Bullpen did another outstanding job, covering a lot of innings this weekend.
“I just think that little bit of swag, I guess, is back.”
Having Turner’s presence in the middle of the lineup certainly has helped. He is batting .333/.391/.429 in six games since being activated from the disabled list.
Turner drove in a career-high tying five runs in Thursday’s win over the Marlins to get the winning streak started.
The Dodgers now are back home for a 10-game homestand that begins Monday against the division-rival Colorado Rockies, where they will look to keep the momentum from this weekend’s sweep going.
