Trea Turner is on an absolute tear.
He hit his 150th career home run to tie the game in the ninth inning against Atlanta Braves closer Raisel Iglesias in Tuesday’s heartbreaking 7-6 loss.
The Phillies had a chance to win it with two on and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning, but J.T. Realmuto struck out and Nick Castellanos grounded into a double play.
The Phillies have hit a tying or go-ahead home run in the eighth or ninth inning in five games over the last three weeks. They have lost all five of those games.
Turner has two of those five home runs. Bryce Harper has the other three.
Turner has a staggering 11 home runs over his last 13 games. He is three stolen bases from 30 and four home runs from 30 and is on pace to become the first Phillie since Jimmy Rollins in 2007 to have a 30-30 season.
Despite all the struggles he’s had in the first four months of the season, Turner is making up for lost time in a big way. He’s only two points shy of having an .800 OPS.
Turner said after the game that this is the most confident and comfortable he has been at the plate in his career.
“Probably for my entire career, for the most part,” Turner said. “I may have hit for a better average or certain numbers here or there, but, you know, [I’m] hitting for power pretty consistently. I feel like in the last 30-40 games, whatever it is, I don’t know the numbers, but feels just as good as I’ve ever been.”
It’s a shame the Phillies have been unable to capitalize on what will probably go down as one of the most incredible individual hot streaks in team history. The Phillies are 6-7 over the last 13 games. Turner has a 1.109 slugging percentage in those 13 games.
“We can’t let it happen. Especially this late in the season,” Harper said after the game. “We’ve got to win these games. We’re playing some really good teams, of course. We’re going to play some more good teams down the stretch. But these are the games, especially at home, that we need to come out on top and win.”
The devastating losses are piling up, but if there’s anything the Phillies can take away over the last three games is that they may be Atlanta’s most formidable opponent in a short series in the postseason.
Earlier this month, the Braves came into Dodger Stadium and mowed down a very good Los Angeles team that is all but certain to be the second seed in the National League playoff race in a three-game series.
The Braves’ lineup, which leads all of baseball in home runs, runs scored, batting average, on-base and slugging percentage, could prove to be too lethal for any pitching staff it faces, but the Phillies have exposed some weak spots in the Braves’ pitching staff, specifically the bullpen.
Iglesias has blown two saves in this series. Backend reliever Joe Jiménez allowed three runs on Tuesday night.
The Phillies, of course, have to get there first. It will take a collapse of epic proportions for Philadelphia to miss the postseason, but the race for the first Wild Card spot is starting to get really tight. The Phillies’ lead over the Cubs for that spot is down to one and could go down to a half game if the Cubbies can muster a late-game comeback against the Rockies in Colorado.
If the Phillies get there, however, there is a certain confidence that they have what it takes to pull off another epic upset of their division rivals in October.
Turner is emblematic of that confidence. When asked if these last three games have shown the Phillies can go toe-to-toe with the World Series favorites, Turner dismissed the idea of favorites.
“I don’t think that matters,” Turner said. “It doesn’t apply to anybody unless you place a bet on something. So, no. We don’t care.”
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