It’s probably safe to say that a good many Dodgers fans had already thrown the towel in on 37-year-old third baseman (and more recently designated hitter) Justin Turner after his horrendous start to the 2022 season.

Let’s be honest here, the extremely popular Long Beach, CA native and seventh-round draft pick in 2006 by the Cincinnati Reds out of Cal State Fullerton saw his batting average hit .168 heading into Tuesday’s game against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park. But as recently as last week, Dodgers manager Dave Roberts told reporters that it was just a matter of time before his team’s unofficial captain turned things around and that he was going to “Keep running him out there.”

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts was right.

After going 0-for-3 in Monday’s series opener again the Pirates in which the Dodgers mustered only four total hits in their embarrassing 5-1 loss to the Bucs, Turner went 4-for-5 on Tuesday, with three doubles and four RBIs in the Dodgers’ 11-1 shellacking of the Pirates.

“I think I’ve been feeling better this whole road trip,” Turner told reporters postgame. “Taking better at-bats, seeing the ball better, hitting balls harder. It was good to get results tonight, but at the same time, happy with the process and hitting balls hard and swinging at good pitches.

“A lot of it is trial and error, trying different things in the cage, trying different things in batting practice, and then taking those feels into the game,” added Turner. “I think on this road trip, I found a few things that I like, and I think they’re sustainable.”

Of greater interest for Dodgers and Justin Turner fans, with his 4-for-5, three-double, four RBI game, he ended the night at ‘The Mendoza Line‘ – an exact .200 batting average. And though this certainly isn’t something that the career .288 hitter is proud of, it’s rather amazing when you consider that he began the night hitting .168 and ended it at exactly .200 – a remarkable jump of 32 points.

Welcome back, JT!

Play Ball!

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