San Diego Padres starter Dinelson Lamet was one batter away from completing six no-hit innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers when he uncorked a 97 mph fastball that drilled Justin Turner in his left shoulder. Turner looked in Lamet’s direction, then turned and pointed for the ball.
He’d just set the Dodgers all-time record with a 74th hit by pitch. Turner overtook Zack Wheat, who was plunked 73 times in 2,322 over 18 seasons with Brooklyn. Turner reached the milestone in a mere 766 games with the Dodgers.
“I don’t think many kids are dreaming about holding that record,” he told DodgerBlue.com. “But I don’t think I’m catching anyone on the Dodgers home run list.”
Turner currently is tied for 25th on the Dodgers all-time home run leaders list with 112. He’s 11 from moving up a spot to catch Frank Howard and 12 behind teammate Joc Pederson for 23rd. Duke Snider is the Dodgers all-time home run leader with 389.
While Turner is the holder of a peculiar record, he certainly is in good company. Wheat was inducted into the Hall of Fame and is the Dodgers’ all-time leader in hits, RBI, doubles and triples.
Furthermore, en route to being hit 14 times last season, Turner overtook Jackie Robinson for second place. Robinson, another Hall of Famer and Dodgers icon, was hit 72 times in his career with Brooklyn.
In May of last season, Turner set an L.A. franchise record and tied a Dodgers all-time mark when he was hit by a pitch in four consecutive games. Hughie Jennings was also hit in four consecutive games from Sept. 6-20, 1900, while playing for Brooklyn.
Turner plans to put the record-breaking ball in his home office, alongside that from his 100th home run with the Dodgers.
Padres throw at Turner
There were five players hit in Tuesday’s game; Edwin Rios, Turner and Matt Beaty for the Dodgers, and the Padres’ Francisco Mejia and Josh Naylor. However, only Turner’s appeared suspicious, particularly when taking into account events the night prior when Fernando Tatis Jr. ran over Will Smith.
“You don’t want to assume anything but I’ll say this. There was a little back-and-forth with Tatis that I thought was very benign,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “J.T. does stand on the dish, but it’s a two-out situation, nobody on base and Lamet had really good command.
“To kind of lose one like he did, I’m not going to sit here and say it was intentional, but certainly noted.”
Turner being hit led to Cody Bellinger’s base hit and Corey Seager’s two-run single that tied the game and marked the end of the night for Lamet. “I don’t know if it was a wakeup call,” Roberts said.
“But I think it honed our focus a little bit more.”
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