It’s possible that Trea Turner was ready to return to the Phillies’ lineup a few days ago. But it wasn’t until he sprinted around the bases before three games in Baltimore last weekend that everyone agreed it was time.
And let’s be clear: Turner had to convince himself, too.
“It’s just [gaining] confidence that you’re not going to [injure] it again,” the star shortstop said Monday after being reinstated from the injured list. “Because when I did this, I’d never done it before. Trying to make it feel like it never happened is hard.”
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Turner wound up missing 38 games after straining his left hamstring while scoring from second base on a passed ball on May 3 against the Giants. The Phillies went 25-13 in his absence, largely because fill-in Edmundo Sosa batted .275/.336/.505 with four home runs and an .841 OPS in 32 starts.
With Turner returning to his familiar No. 2 spot in the lineup, Sosa went back to the bench. He did begin taking fly balls in the outfield during batting practice, a precursor to potentially playing left field, according to manager Rob Thomson.
Sosa, who didn’t make an error in any of his fill-in starts at shortstop, got playing time in the outfield in spring training two years ago but hasn’t started a regular-season game out of the infield in his career.
“We’ll get him a lot of reads off the bat in batting practice, which, it’s not game-like but it’s as close as you can get,” Thomson said. “Playing the outfield in spring training in Florida is like the toughest job in baseball because you’ve got high sky, you’ve got sun, you’ve got wind. If he can do it there, then he probably can do it.”
Turner said he wishes he could transfer some of his All-Star votes to Sosa. Despite the injury, Turner was second among shortstops in the initial balloting results released Monday by Major League Baseball.
“I don’t think he gets enough credit,” Turner said. “I don’t know if he even made an error. He was really good and solid there. The at-bats were great, too. Early on, I felt like every hit he had was driving in a run. He was clutch. I think he did an unbelievable job.
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“He’s going to be big for us going forward. We need to keep getting him in the lineup. Hopefully I don’t get in his way of that because he’s played so well. I tip my cap. I was hoping he’d get a little more recognition than he did.”
Extra bases
Utility infielder Kody Clemens (back spasms) took batting practice, a sign that he’s getting closer to a minor-league assignment. … Righty reliever Yunior Marte (shoulder inflammation) has told the team that he feels fine physically despite allowing 19 hits and seven walks in nine innings over eight triple-A appearances on a minor-league assignment. … Aaron Nola (8-3, 3.48 ERA) is scheduled to start Tuesday night against Padres righty Michael King (5-4, 3.58).
