Trea Turner delivers first signature Phillies moment in 6-5 comeback win over the Diamondbacks

When Trea Turner finally got to his locker Wednesday after a come-from-behind, 6-5 Phillies victory over Arizona in 10 innings in which he lashed a game-tying home run with two out in the ninth, he checked his phone and found a text message from his mother.

“Good game,” she wrote, “except for your fourth at-bat.”

“Yeah,” Turner replied, referring to a strikeout with a runner on second base. “Not a good one.”

“I was booing you,” she wrote back.

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Donna Turner’s boos may have been long distance from Florida, but they blended in with the chorus in Philadelphia. Like everyone in a nearly packed Citizens Bank Park, she has been waiting for her son to deliver his first big Phillies moment since signing for $300 million in December. But nearly one-third of the way into the season, neither Turner nor the Phillies as a whole has taken off.

Maybe this was it, then. Maybe Turner’s ambush of a hanging, first-pitch curveball from Diamondbacks reliever José Ruiz — followed by Alec Bohm’s bases-loaded walk-off single to complete a comeback from a 5-0 deficit, avert a three-game sweep and ignite a party on the field — will kick-start both the star shortstop and the 23-26 defending National League champs as they embark on their longest road trip of the season, a 10-game NL East meat grinder through Atlanta, New York, and Washington that feels like an inflection point in the season. Maybe.

“Yeah, that was big,” manager Rob Thomson said. “Maybe that’s his signature moment that gets him going.”

There was a certain justice in this. Turner scalded the ball in his first three at-bats but had nothing to show for a line drive to right field (100.8 mph off the bat), a flyout to center (96.8 mph), or a chopper to second base (96.2 mph) that deflected off Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen’s glove.

Turner also hasn’t ducked the criticism of his poor start. If anything, he has leaned into it. He has cited a skyrocketing strikeout rate (26.7%) that is well above his career average (18.5%). He has conceded he’s chasing too many pitches out of the strike zone. When Thomson highlighted a recent 10-pitch at-bat that resulted in a strikeout as a positive sign, Turner responded by saying that he stinks — only he used a different “S” word.

“I probably haven’t played this bad my entire career,” Turner said.

Turner was booed by big crowds throughout the homestand. He didn’t blame them. And when he trudged to the dugout after waving at a slider in the dirt in the seventh inning, they let him hear it again.

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“I’m going to be bad; I’m going to be good, but you’ve always got more at-bats coming, more ground balls coming,” Turner said. “At the end of the day, you’ve just got to find a way to contribute. The home run was nice, but the win was pretty important. It felt good coming back in here with the guys.”

Said Bohm: “He’s obviously an extremely talented player, and everybody’s kind of waiting for something like that to happen. Everybody’s super-happy for him, and obviously it helps the team win, too.”

Phillies officials have been perplexed by Turner’s struggles. But they haven’t worried. They insist he’s too good to not find his level, even though he had more homers (five) and as many RBIs (11) in six World Baseball Classic games in March than he did in 47 games for the Phillies entering play Wednesday.

Thomson finally gave Turner a day off Saturday to reset. But mostly he has stuck with him in either the leadoff or No. 2 spot in the batting order. Thomson appreciates how hard Turner is on himself but also tries to make sure that he isn’t applying too much pressure. The Phillies see a confident player poised to break out.

“I do think he will do much better as the year goes on,” president of baseball operations Dave Dombrowski said. “I’ll be absolutely shocked if he doesn’t — and I think the baseball world will be shocked if he doesn’t.”

And Donna Turner won’t let him hear the end of it.

“My mom prepared me for anything in this game, in this world,” Turner said. “She was tough on me from an early age. Not much fazes me.”

Making his third start since returning from a spring-training elbow strain, Ranger Suárez gave up back-to-back hits and a run to open the game, then allowed four runs in the third inning on a sinker to Emmanuel Rivera for a two-run double and a hanging changeup that Evan Longoria banged off the facing of the second deck in left field.

“In the third inning, specifically, I had to battle a little harder,” Suárez said through a team interpreter. “But I thought I found my rhythm after that.”

Thomson said Suárez’s command, especially of his off-speed pitches, was an issue when he delivered out of the stretch, with runners on base. Suárez will lug a 9.82 ERA into a start next Tuesday in New York.

In his third career start at Citizens Bank Park, Gallen, who grew up in South Jersey and pitched at Bishop Eustace, threw 100 pitches and left with two on and two out in the sixth inning. Reliever Kevin Ginkle allowed the back-to-back RBI singles to Bohm and Brandon Marsh, with both runs charged to Gallen.

But it still marked the seventh time in 11 starts that Gallen gave up two or fewer runs. He has a 2.97 ERA, more than one run better than the Phillies’ best starter (Zack Wheeler: 4.11 ERA).

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