Trea Turner exits game against Giants with left hamstring soreness originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
In the bottom of the fourth inning on Friday night, Phillies shortstop Trea Turner singled with two outs and stole second. Then, when Bryce Harper walked on a pitch that bounced off the glove of Giants catcher Tom Murphy and rolled toward the back wall, Turner advanced to third. . .and he kept running to score what turned out to be the decisive run in the 4-3 win at Citizens Bank Park.
It was just the latest reminder of the impact it can have.
But when the Phillies returned to the field in the top of the fifth, Edmundo Sosa came out of the dugout to play short. It turned out that Turner had injured his left hamstring just before touching home plate.
Now the Phillies will have to figure out how to manage without him for what is expected to be at least a few days, while crossing their fingers that it won’t be more.
Rob Thomson admitted he is at least a little worried. “Sure,” he said. “Every time it’s a hamstring, a muscle, especially on a guy like that. “That play won us the game.”
Turner made a spontaneous decision to try to score when he saw that Murphy and pitcher Jordan Hicks were reacting in a manner that indicated they expected him to stop at third. “I just felt like they were far from home plate and it would have taken a big play to get me out. That’s how I saw it in my head,” he said.
If Turner is expected to miss a relatively short period of time, the manager said his inclination would be to include Sosa in the lineup. If he’s going to be missing long enough to require a roster change, that would be a different discussion. Thomson indicated that he is not considering moving second baseman Bryson Stott to shortstop, at least not now.
“It’s a big loss (if he’s out for a long time),” Thomson said. “This is Trea Turner. He is one of the best players in baseball. “I don’t know what the results will be, but we will know more (Saturday).”
Turner, who has played every game this season, is resigned to missing at least some time.
“It hurt me quite a bit,” he said. “Nothing like this had ever happened before. They seemed quite positive in the training room. At least more positive than I thought. So I was pretty happy with that.
“It was something strange. I think it will be at least a couple of days. I hate getting hurt and I promise it won’t be fun for the training staff. “I will wear them down and they will want me on the field more than I will want to be on the field.”
Turner is hitting .343, second on the team only to third baseman Alec Bohm, who extended his hitting streak to 16 games with a single in the third inning. His 43 hits in March/April were a franchise record and his 25 runs scored were surpassed only by Jimmy Rollins (26 in 2007).