PHILADELPHIA — As Trea Turner trudged back to the dugout after striking out in the seventh inning, the chorus — “Boooooo!” — from a nearly packed house had grown familiar.
“I’ve [stunk],” Turner agreed a few nights earlier.
Nearly one-third of the way through the season, everyone — most of all, Turner — was waiting for the $300 million shortstop to have his first signature Phillies moment. He hit the ball hard three times Wednesday, but didn’t get any hits. Then came the strikeout.
And then, at last, deliverance.
With two out in the ninth inning and the Phillies staring at their eighth loss in 10 games, Turner brought them back from the brink by ambushing a first-pitch curveball from Diamondbacks reliever José Ruiz and lining it into the left-field bleachers for a game-tying home run.
In the 10th, Alec Bohm lined a bases-loaded single to give the Phillies their best win of the season, 6-5, to avert a sweep by upstart Arizona.
Turner had gone hitless to that point despite scalding the ball. He had a 100.8 mph lineout to right field in the first inning, a 96.8-mph flyout to center in the fourth, and a 96.2-mph groundout that deflected off Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen’s glove in the fifth.
But Turner was hardly alone. Other than a brief burst in the sixth inning, when Bohm and Brandon Marsh delivered back-to-back RBI singles against reliever Kevin Ginkel, the Phillies were 2 for 7 with runners in scoring position.
Ranger Suárez gave up back-to-back hits and a run to open the game, then allowed four runs in the third inning on a sinker to Emmanuel Rivera for a two-run double and a hanging changeup that Evan Longoria banged off the facing of the second deck in left field.
Suárez’s ERA in three starts since returning from a spring-training elbow strain: 9.82.
But the Phillies chipped away, giving Turner a chance in the ninth. Booed throughout the homestand, he entered with a .251/.297/.382 batting line and four homers. His self-assessment couldn’t have been more candid.
“I probably haven’t played this bad in my entire career,” he said the other night.
With one swing, he sent the Phillies on their longest road trip — 10 games to Atlanta, New York, and Washington — with a 23-26 record but perhaps some momentum to build on.
“It’s on us, right?” Kyle Schwarber said before the game. “We’re not hitting the panic button. Is there a sense of urgency? Definitely. We want to win games. We want to win our division. Because we know the talent in the room.”
