After defeating the San Diego Padres in a series opener at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the midst of an 11-5 stretch as they continued to pace the Majors and sit atop the National League West standings.
However, that was followed by a three-game losing streak heading into the All-Star break. Dodgers manager Dave Roberts called on his club to improve with their at-bats but generally remained content.
He dismissed the idea of a team meeting being necessary and vowed the Dodgers would be prepared to face the Boston Red Sox in a rematch of the 2018 World Series. Yet, they came out of the All-Star break a bit sluggish and suffered a fourth consecutive loss.
The Dodgers bounced back to snap their losing streak by slugging four home runs en route to an 11-2 thrashing at Fenway Park. Following their win, Justin Turner pointed to the time off as being beneficial for the Dodgers, even if it took them a night to demonstrate it, via Bill Plunkett of the Southern California News Group:
“Yeah, I think it was good for all of us,” he said. “The way this team goes about our business — mentally engaged for nine innings, trying to win every pitch — gets exhausting for all our guys. So that was a nice four-day break. I think a lot of guys needed it. Maybe a little bit of a hangover yesterday but got back to feeling ourselves tonight.”
Turner helped lead the Dodgers’ attack with two doubles, one home run and three RBI. He attributed some of that to adjusting his swing mechanics:
“There’s constant tinkering going on, trying to get different feels in the box,” Turner said. “I messed with a few things earlier today with our hitting guys in the cage that felt pretty good. A lot of times you do stuff in the cage but it doesn’t always carry over into the game. Tonight, it carried over and felt pretty good.”
The home run was Turner’s 11th this season and fourth in his past 12 games. It was his first game with three extra-base hits since slugging a career-best three home runs against the Atlanta Braves on May 7.
Turner regularly will adjust his batting stance throughout the course of any given season, switching from being more open to having his front leg closed off toward the pitcher. He’s done so again this year, currently utilizing a more closed stance.
