Rob Thomson is giving Trea Turner the night off Wednesday, he said during an interview on 94 WIP, to end what's been a rough series at home against the Orioles.
Turner went 0-for-3, committed two errors and was ejected arguing a called strike three to end the fifth inning of Monday's series-opening loss. He went 0-for-4 on Tuesday.
Turner has talked this season about not wanting to miss games, even during cold spells. He wants to be out there every day. There have been several instances this season, dating back to late April, when Thomson sought Turner's feedback and kept him in the lineup when he was considering getting him a breather.
"After (Monday's) game, I approached him and I said, 'Do you need a day off?' Because I knew he was frustrated," Thomson told the WIP Morning Show. "And he said, adamantly, 'Nope, I want to play.' Then after the game last night, I took it away from him. He will have tonight off.
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"That will give him two days (with Thursday's off day) and then we'll start him back up in Pittsburgh. This is a guy who really cares. He really wants to do well. He works as hard as anybody, maybe too much. We're going to stand by him because he's a great player. He's going to get it going at some point and he's going to get hot."
Edmundo Sosa starts at shortstop. Bryce Harper starts at first base, his first time starting there on back-to-back nights. Kyle Schwarber is the DH with Brandon Marsh in center field and Jake Cave in left against Orioles right-hander Kyle Bradish.
Turner has hit .245/.297/.384 in his first 100 games as a Phillie with 20 doubles, four triples, 10 home runs and 34 RBI. He's walked 29 times with 107 strikeouts. He's never been a huge walk guy but his plate selection has been worse this season than ever before. His OPS was 32% above the league average the last four seasons and 16% below the league average in 2023.
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He's also on pace to commit a career-high number of errors for the second straight season. He misplayed two relatively routine balls in Monday's series opener, which likely played a role in the frustration he exhibited after striking out on a borderline pitch to end his third at-bat.
Thomson was asked about potentially dropping Turner in the batting order. Turner has hit second in 78 of his 100 starts. He has a .296 on-base percentage in that spot and the Phillies have the lowest combined OBP from their 1-2 hitters of any team in the majors this season.
"We dropped him down earlier in the season and he started to get him going," Thomson said. "But he's been up and down for most of the year. It doesn't mean we won't drop him down again, but it is part of it. I think people are comfortable in certain spots, I know he is comfortable when he is going good. He is comfortable in that spot, but it doesn't mean we won't drop him again."
The Phillies are 54-47 heading into Wednesday's series finale. Just one game separates the first of three wild-card teams from the first team out (the Phils).
After finishing with the Orioles, the Phillies head to Pittsburgh for three games and Miami for four. The Pirates are 24-49 since the final days of April. The Marlins took two of three from the Phils going into the All-Star break and have gone 2-9 since.
