Trea Turner joins Bryce Harper as the Phillies’ superstar of the moment

ATLANTA — Seranthony Domínguez called it “the best play I’ve ever seen.” Bryson Stott thought, or maybe even said aloud, “Whoa!” as he made the harder-than-it-looked pivot at second base. J.T. Realmuto screamed — “and I don’t usually do that on the field,” he said later.

And they all agreed: It was a priceless play by a $300 million player.

The Phillies stole Game 1 of the best-of-five division series from the Braves by exploiting the singular weakness of Atlanta’s record-setting offense. Rob Thomson marched out a half-dozen relievers, who threw 31 pitches that were 97 mph or faster, and orchestrated the first shutout of the Braves at home since Aug. 28, 2021.

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But in a series populated by stars, the Phillies were propelled, as ever, by their best players. Bryce Harper, the modern Mr. October, cranked his seventh homer in 20 postseason games for the Phillies. And there was Trea Turner, stealing two bases, scoring a run, and oh yeah, starting a heart-stopping double play to stop an eighth-inning rally.

“Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games,” Realmuto said. “I think that’s why Dave [Dombrowski] and John [Middleton] make the moves that they make in the offseason is for moments like this.”

Sure, but it’s one thing to pay big money for star players. It’s another to choose the right stars. Five years ago, Middleton made the ownership decision to sign Harper over Manny Machado. Last winter, Dombrowski, the Hall of Fame-bound president of baseball operations, sold Middleton on plunking down $300 million for Turner because of his winning reputation as much as surpassing talent.

The latter resurfaced in early August. After a mystifyingly poor first 100 games, Turner batted .337/.389/.668 with 14 doubles, 16 homers, and nine steals since Aug. 4, a stretch that coincided with the reverse psychology of a standing ovation for an underachieving superstar.

And he left no question about the former by displaying his dynamic athleticism amid the postseason glare of the eighth inning of Game 1 in Atlanta.

With the Phillies leading 2-0, he lined a one-out single, swiped second and third base to punctuate the Phillies’ five-steal game — another strategy to capitalize on slow moves to the plate by Braves pitchers, notably starter Spencer Strider — and scored on catcher’s interference.

But it was what happened next that had everybody talking. The Braves had the tying run at the plate in the bottom of the eighth when Turner dove to his left to smother Ozzie Albies’ hard smash. He got to his knees and made a backhand flip to Stott, who completed the double play.

Turner, typically stoic on the field, pumped his fist and shouted. At first base, Harper pumped his fist. The largest crowd ever at Truist Park — 43,689 paying customers, including a few dozen who threw trash onto the outfield grass after the Phillies scored their third run — fell silent.

“You could feel that was a big moment,” Turner said. “With them in the middle of their lineup and guys on base, a little momentum, you could feel the moment.”

The moment doesn’t overwhelm the Phillies’ biggest stars. Harper has an uncanny knack for delivering when the stakes high. He batted .387 with a 1.161 OPS in 91 plate appearances this season with the Phillies leading by one run, tied, or with the tying run on base, at bat or on deck. And everyone remembers his 2022 postseason.

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Turner is exhibiting similarly clutch tendencies, with four hits in the Phillies’ two-game wild-card sweep of the Marlins. It helps that he’s been through this before. He won the World Series in 2019 with the Nationals and ranks 16th among active players with 209 postseason plate appearances.

“He started off slowly for a variety of reasons that would be speculated upon, getting adjusted to a new team, whatever the case may be, but we’ve seen the way he’s turned it around,” Dombrowski said. “He’s just a really good player. That’s what it is. His career speaks for it.

“And he’s a quality worker. He goes about doing his job.”

Over the last few weeks, in fact, Turner worked with Stott and infield coach Bobby Dickerson on turning double plays just like the one on Albies. OK, so not exactly like that, with a perfectly timed dive. But Turner has practiced his feeds to second base, which were causing more problems than usual for him.

“Being far away from the bag, when to flip, when to throw, stuff like that,” Turner said. “That one was always going to be a flip. Keep it simple. Just catch the ball and get it to Stott as fast as possible and get an out.”

Said Stott: “The backhand flip he did, you get a little more distance and you could throw it a little harder. So, I’m glad he did that instead of trying to do something else. That was a sick play.”

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Sickening, too, for the Braves, whose latest NL East-winning season is teetering entering a Game 2 matchup with Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, the Atlanta native who has a 2.41 ERA in seven regular-season and one postseason start in his hometown since he joined the Phillies in 2020.

There’s also this: The Game 1 winner has won 78 of the 112 best-of-five series since the division round was added in 1995.

It explains why Thomson resorted to an unconventional pitching plan in the series opener. Because while the Braves are the distance runner who outlasts everyone in the marathon regular season, the Phillies fancy themselves Usain Bolt in October, sprinting through the playoffs on the backs of their big-game superstars.

In that sense, Turner fits in just fine. Like Harper, he rushes toward the spotlight rather than shrinking from it.

Harper has never hidden his admiration for Turner, often describing him as his favorite player in the league to watch. Not that Dombrowski needed it, Harper offered his endorsement before the Phillies signed Turner. He wears a T-shirt with Turner’s name and likeness before games.

“He’s played great baseball for us,” Harper said. “It’s a lot of fun to see him on our side in the postseason.”

Said Thomson: “He kind of rises to the moment.”

The moment arrived in the eighth inning Saturday night. The Phillies were sure glad that Turner did, too.