Despite defensive miscues, Trea Turner’s 200th career homer helps Phillies power past Dodgers
Turner has now homered four times in the last four games, but he has also committed three errors in the last four games and struggled defensively Monday night: “You just got to laugh about it.”
Afterward, Trea Turner could only laugh.
So could his teammates. As the stadium lights flashed and the bell tolled, signaling another Phillies win — this time, 10-7 over the Dodgers — the infield convened on the dirt.
The same dirt where Turner had just made four different miscues defensively, and the same dirt Turner had trotted across, twice, after each of his homers on Monday. As the Phillies celebrated their victory, they couldn’t help but tease their shortstop for his Jekyll and Hyde performance.
“Ridiculous game, in general, by me,” Turner said. “You do things like that, or have games like that, sometimes you just got to laugh about it. And they gave me a hard time.”
The ridiculousness started in the first inning, when Turner botched a routine grounder — first bobbling it, then pulling Bryce Harper off the bag with his throw — to record his 15th error of the year. The boos rained down as he squandered a chance to get Cristopher Sánchez out of an early jam, and instead helped the Dodgers load the bases.
But after successfully fielding the next grounder hit in his direction to end it without damage, Turner got the crowd back on his side after sending Emmet Sheehan’s first pitch to left-center for a double.
“Obviously, Trea swung the bat really well,” said interim manager Don Mattingly. “He didn’t catch it as well.”
And that was only the beginning of the roller coaster ride. Turner launched a two-run shot in the second inning to help build the Phillies’ early lead, but he also continued to struggle on defense.
In the fourth inning, Alex Call grounded a ball to left that went underneath Turner’s glove. In the sixth, a chopper from Andy Pages bounced off his glove and a run scored. And in the ninth, a hard-hit grounder from Tommy Edman deflected off his knee.
All three were ruled singles by the official scorer, but were plays Turner could have made.
» READ MORE: A solution to the Phillies’ fifth-starter spot? Skip it. But only for now.
“Everyone talks about rhythm at the plate, but I think there’s rhythm on the base paths, rhythm defensively,” Turner said. “Sometimes you feel good, sometimes you don’t, and you just got to find that flow again.”
He couldn’t pinpoint what was going wrong Monday or this season in general, but said that poor reads were part of the problem. Turner’s 15 errors have already well surpassed his full-season marker of eight in 2025. His defensive runs saved (-10) is dead last among qualified shortstops this year, but Mattingly still has confidence in him.
“I trust Trea, honestly,” Mattingly said. “I trust all our guys, and Trea’s going to make some great plays. There’s going to be errors with everybody. Trea works. He’s out there every day, working on ground balls. He’s working on his hands, all that type of stuff. So as long as Trea works, we ride with Trea.”
Turner has committed three errors in the last four games. He has also homered four times in the last four games.
This time, his error cost Sánchez a few pitches in the first. The Phillies lefty scattered seven hits and struck out seven. Four of those came on his slider, which he leaned on more than usual over 5 ⅓ innings.
Sánchez retired Shohei Ohtani three times.
“Looks like it had good depth of that slider tonight,” Mattingly said. “I’m sure part of the game plan is to not chase that changeup down. ... It’s just a tough lineup to get through from the standpoint of just going to the changeup. Everybody knows he’s got a good changeup. We’ve seen teams try to take it away; they’re probably better at it than most.”
Sánchez was lifted after reaching 99 pitches, leaving two on base for Orion Kerkering in the sixth. Both inherited runners wound up scoring, bringing Sánchez’s total to three earned runs.
Pinch-hitting Max Muncy won a seven-pitch battle against Kerkering with a double that drove in one. Kerkering bounced back by striking out Dalton Rushing, and then intentionally walked Ohtani to load the bases.
» READ MORE: Trea Turner looks to cut down on chasing — and he’s starting to see the results
Pages, who hit the bases-loaded grounder to Kerkering that eliminated the Phillies from the 2025 National League Division Series, stepped into the batter’s box instead. His chopper to Turner could have ended it there, but another run scored to bring the Dodgers within one.
But once again, Turner found redemption immediately on offense. He hooked his second homer of the night, and 200th of his career, just inside the left field foul pole in the bottom of the inning.
“That’s how it goes in the game of baseball,” Sánchez said through team interpreter Diego D’Aniello. “You’ll fail, sometimes you miss, but you just try to pick yourself up and be better and do things like that.”
Turner wasn’t the only Phillies player to have a big game. Gabriel Rincones Jr. hit an RBI double in the second inning, and he also made some key plays in right field. Brandon Marsh, Harper, and Derek Hill, who each had cooled off somewhat after the All-Star break, hit solo homers that gave the Phillies some needed insurance.
Chase Shugart had a six-run cushion for the ninth, but the Dodgers made things interesting quickly. Pages drew a leadoff walk and Edman’s grounder that deflected off of Turner’s leg put runners on the corners. An RBI groundout scored a run, and then Mookie Betts delivered his second homer of the game to bring the Dodgers within three.
Not willing to take any more chances, even with two outs and the bases empty, Mattingly brought in closer Jhoan Duran.
“I’m not going to let it get away and take another chance that it goes further and then puts him in a spot where he can’t make a mistake,” Mattingly said.
Duran needed three pitches to retire Teoscar Hernández with a groundout, fielded by — who else? — Turner.
And with the victory officially secured, then the laughter began. The shortstop left the ballpark Monday night with a souvenir ball to remember his 200th career home run, and the wacky game it happened in.
“If you can’t laugh at yourself,” Turner said, “then you’re kind of kind of done for.”
Phillies owner John Middleton spent months planning to host the city’s first All-Star Game in 30 years. Now that it’s over, he joined Phillies Extra, The Inquirer’s baseball podcast, to recap his most memorable moments from the week. He also discussed the upcoming trade deadline and Field of Dreams Game in Iowa, and the future of the top of the Phillies organizational masthead. Watch here. Watch here.
You can also subscribe to the podcast version of Phillies Extra on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Previous episodes: Ryan Howard | Dan Baker | Ricky Bottalico | Preston Mattingly | Caleb Cotham | Larry Bowa | Joe Maddon | Rhys Hoskins | Terry Francona