Phillies’ Trea Turner reveals the secret behind his season-turning hot streak. He got a grip.

MILWAUKEE — A month later, it’s easy — too easy, to be frank — to point to the uplifting standing ovations for Trea Turner as the impetus for his dramatic awakening this season.

But something else happened as the Phillies star shortstop came to the plate on Aug. 4 at Citizens Bank Park.

“I started doing a looser grip,” Turner said Saturday.

Care to elaborate?

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“I usually grip the bat pretty loose all the way through my swing,” Turner said before tying a Phillies record with a homer in five consecutive games. “I feel like this year, even times when I thought about being loose, I would grip it harder than I think. So, now it’s just keeping that loose grip as long as possible. It’s kind of the first key that helped me, maybe like 25 games or so, when everything first started at home.”

The low point of Turner’s season came Aug. 2, when he had a costly misplay in a 12-inning loss in Miami and hit in the batting cage until midnight. He went 0-for-3 the next day and was batting a season-low .235 with a .657 OPS when the Phillies opened a 10-game homestand on Aug. 4.

And while the confidence-inspiring support from the home crowd was surely a factor in the 36-for-100 (.360), 10-homer, 1.168-OPS blaze that followed in 25 games entering Saturday night, Turner’s turnaround probably had even more to do with his hands.

Many slumping hitters refer to “gripping the bat too tight.” Turner means it literally. Early in the season, he said he tried to hold the bat more loosely but didn’t feel like he had enough control over his swing.

“I’m a big grip guy,” Turner said. “Early in my career, it was just a loose top hand. I always felt like if I gripped the bat hard, I just immediately spun. I think that’s where a lot of the damage has come lately. Hitting changeups and sliders and for power, I think means that my grip is where it needs to be.”

Take Friday night, for example. Turner struck out on changeups from Brewers starter Freddy Peralta in the third and sixth innings. He had one thing on his mind before hitting closer Devin Williams’ signature “airbender” changeup for a go-ahead three-run homer in the eighth.

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“[Peralta] made some really good pitches on me, but I felt like I was gripping the bat a little too tight,” Turner said. “I would get in the box and feel fine, but when I go to load, I get a little too tight.

“My last at-bat, all I focused on was just load with a looser grip, see the ball, and then I got that [changeup] to hit. That’s why I hit it so hard. It’s such a small difference.”

Turner has made an easier-to-spot change to the placement of his hands, dropping them down as he begins to load his swing. He said it enables him to use his legs more and get a better read on pitches. He compared it to the mechanics used by Mookie Betts and said it’s similar to an approach he used in 2021 when he was Betts’ teammate with the Dodgers.

But Turner sees another benefit to lowering his hands. He believes it gives him more control over the bat when he loosens his grip.

You might say the adjustments go hand-in-hand. (Apologies for the unfortunate pun.)

“It’s like being loose but a little calmer,” Turner said. “Loose grip with knowing that [his hands are] going to go down doesn’t allow me to do all this crazy stuff. When I have that loose grip, I can be out in front and hit a changeup, hit a slider, or I can be late and hit a fastball and shoot it the other way.”

Lately, Turner is hitting everything, giving him a better grip on a season that looked hopeless a month ago and well-deserved standing ovations from Phillies fans.

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One day after flubbing a backhand play that enabled three runs to score in the eighth inning of a 7-5 loss, third baseman Alec Bohm received a pregame pep talk from infield coach Bobby Dickerson.

“Today’s a new day for him, whereas a year ago, two years ago, it wouldn’t have been,” manager Rob Thomson said. “I have full confidence that he’s past that. He’s matured enough now that he’s beyond that. He was upset, but I don’t think it’s going to carry over”

Bohm was back at third base Saturday rather than shifting to first while Bryce Harper was the designated hitter. Thomson said the decision had less to do with making certain Bohm’s confidence remained high than with the matchup. With the Phillies facing a righty starter, lefty-hitting Jake Cave played first base.

Sunday’s game will stream exclusively on Peacock, the subscription service for NBC. ... Ranger Suárez (2-6, 3.88 ERA) is scheduled to pitch Sunday, his first start since Aug. 13 because of a strained right hamstring. He’ll be opposed by Brewers lefty Wade Miley (7-3, 3.17).