Trea Turner hits cathartic go-ahead home run in win against Royals

Final Score: Phillies 9, Royals 6

During Phillies batting practice on Friday, Trea Turner got Kevin Long’s attention.

He wanted to steal the Phillies hitting coach for a private session inside. Alec Bohm and Brandon Marsh, who were in the first group, lightly teased Long for pulling away from the rest of the hitters.

“What about the 13 other guys you need to help?” Marsh joked.

“That’s our hitting coach?” Bohm deadpanned.

“I have faith in you guys,” Turner said. Assistant hitting coach Jason Camilli took Long’s place behind the batting cage outside.

Behind the scenes, Turner has worked tirelessly to end the worst nightmare of his career and make sure it never comes back again. He spent an hour in the cages with Long following a night in Miami where he went 0-for-5 and made a costly error that prevented the Phillies from wrapping up a potential win in extra innings.

Working yourself into a slump is a real thing and perhaps Turner has been guilty of that multiple times this year. But maybe something is finally starting to click.

Or maybe the cheers really do help.

As frustration regarding Turner’s disappointing first season reached a boiling point in Miami on Wednesday, anger quickly turned into empathy when fans saw video of Turner taking questions from reporters. His head was down as it usually is, but he was swaying back and forth at a distressing frequency. He looked like a guy who was at rock bottom professionally.

Phillies fans online then began wondering how they could help. A charitable bunch of fans on Reddit began donating to the V Foundation for cancer research, Turner’s preferred cause, as a gesture of support. It spread quickly around other parts of the internet. The conversation then shifted to showing Turner support in person. Fans began cheering Turner during his at-bat, beginning Friday. Turner loved it.

The cheers were heard again on Saturday. They were not as loud in his first two at-bats, but there was some momentum when Turner came up to the plate with two men on and nobody out against a lefty reliever with the Phillies trailing by a run in the sixth.

He stayed back, took a healthy cut on a fastball inside and drilled it into the left field seats for a three-run shot to give the Phillies an 8-6 lead.

Turner finished the game 2-for-4 with a home run, a double and four RBIs. He even made the final out of the game to secure Craig Kimbrel’s 19th save of the season.