Could we be in for another Phillies stunner this year?
Philadelphia proved during its World Series run last season it sometimes just comes down to when you get hot. And although Trea Turner -- like the Phillies -- has taken a lot of lumps this year, he looks like he's starting to pick things up at the right time.
Turner, hitting .249 so far in 2023 on the first year of an 11-year, $300 million contract, entered Saturday hitting .378 over the past two weeks. He then further bolstered those numbers Saturday, homering not once, but twice in the eighth inning alone against the Nationals.
The first home run was a meatball up and in on Turner's hands, while the second was golfed out to the same spot in left.
Turner became the second player this season to homer twice in an inning, joining Red Sox outfielder Masataka Yoshida, who homered twice in the eighth inning of an April game for Boston. It was part of an eight-run inning for the Phillies, who entered the eighth tied 3-3. The Phillies would go on to beat the Nationals 12-3.
If the Phillies are going to make a run in the playoffs, this would be a solid time for Turner to step up.
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How many players have homered twice in one inning?
Turner joins Yoshida as the only players to homer twice in an inning this season, both coincidentally doing so in the eighth.
The feat isn't the rarest among MLB achievements, but it's certainly in the upper echelon. Hitting home runs is hard, as is seeing two at-bats in an inning. Putting those things together gives players long odds.
Turner became the 59th player in MLB history to homer twice in a frame. Five players have done it twice, meaning it has occurred 64 times in total.
It's happened three times in the past calendar year, with Gleyber Torres doing it for the Yankees on Sep. 21, 2022, Yoshida doing it April 23, and now Turner. Before Torres, it hadn't happened since 2019, when Edwin Encarnacion homered twice in the sixth for the Mariners.
Turner, for his part, is up to 14 home runs on the year, with his four in August being a month-high. The Phillies may not catch the Braves in the NL East, but if this year goes anything like 2022, they may not have to. Sometimes, a wild card spot is all a team needs.