Quick: Who leads the Dodgers in home runs since the All-Star break?

Chances are pretty good that you picked Cody Bellinger, or Max Muncy, or perhaps even newcomer Will Smith. If you did, however, you’d be wrong.

No, the Dodger with the most home runs since the Mid-Summer Classic on July 9 for the soon-to-be seven-time National League West champions is none other than their unofficial team captain, 34-year–old Long Beach, CA native Justin Turner with 13.

On Saturday afternoon against the American League East first-place New York Yankees and in front of a sold-out Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,803, ‘Redturn2’ (as he is affectionately known) hit what was arguably his biggest round-tripper of the season; not distance-wise but important-wise – a 387-footer that just cleared the wall in left-center field turning a 1-0 deficit into a 2-1 Dodgers lead and eventual win.

Since the All-Star break, Turner has slugged 13 home runs, as compared to Bellinger’s 12, Muncy’s 11, and Smith’s nine. And even though JT’s blast, which came in the bottom of the third inning off of 19-year MLB veteran left-hander and future Hall of Famer CC Sabathia, wasn’t a walk-off home run, it was – by definition – ‘a come-from-behind / game-winning home run.’

“[I got] just enough of it to get a homer,” Turner told reporters after the game. “It doesn’t matter what you did the day before, you gotta show up the next day at 0-0.

“And those guys (pitchers) are 60 feet away trying to get [you] out. Tonight two runs was enough,” he added.

To be fair, Bellinger, who remains among the frontrunners to win the 2019 NL MVP award, is in a bit of a home run slump of late. Although he has a team second-best 12 home runs since July 12, he has hit only three in his last 10 games; great for most guys but not for Belly.

That being said, one can almost sense that the 24-year-old Scottsdale, AZ native and 2017 NL Rookie of the Year is about to bust it wide open (again) in the 31 regular-season games remaining for the Dodgers.

Play Ball!

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