Trea Turner must feel as though he is swinging at a beach ball every time he steps to the plate right now.
Riding a 10-game hitting streak in which he is batting .522 (24-for-46), Turner looks to continue his torrid stretch on Friday when the Philadelphia Phillies host the Washington Nationals in the opener of a three-game series.
Turner tied a career high with five hits on Wednesday afternoon as the Phillies completed a three-game series sweep of the Seattle Mariners with an 11-2 victory. Philadelphia has erupted for 40 runs during its four-game winning streak.
“It feels like we’re kind of playing our best baseball right now,” Turner said. ” … Just everybody is contributing and it feels like a full team effort.”
To Turner’s point, there are others to recognize.
Kyle Schwarber belted his team-leading 45th homer of the season to join Max Kepler and Bryson Stott with three hits on Wednesday. The Phillies mustered 20 hits in that game, which was one shy of their season-high total set in the opener of the series on Monday.
Speaking of Stott, he is hitting a sizzling .354 (17-for-48) in August.
That said, Stott was quick to shift the attention back to Turner.
“It feels like he’s gotten three hits a game for the last three weeks,” Stott told The Athletic.
Turner, in fact, did collect three hits on Saturday; however, right-hander Cade Cavalli recorded his first major league win after tossing seven scoreless innings in a 2-0 victory over the Phillies.
Making his fourth career start and third in his return from Tommy John surgery, Cavalli (1-0, 2.20 ERA) scattered seven hits and struck out five without walking a batter.
“I’ve been prepping for a long time to get to this, so I just wanted to take every outing — whether it was in Double-A, Triple-A, the majors — the same,” the 27-year-old Cavalli said, per the Washington Post. “You never know when you can get hurt again or whatever. So I’m just grateful to be out there.”
James Wood ripped a two-run double in the fifth inning of that game and belted a three-run homer in the Nationals’ 9-3 romp over the New York Mets on Thursday. Wood, however, is just 6-for-35 with 19 strikeouts this season against Philadelphia.
Rookie Brady House and Riley Adams combined for five hits, three RBIs and three runs on Thursday for Washington, which took two of three from New York. The series setback knocked the second-place Mets seven games behind the National League East-leading Phillies.
Philadelphia will turn to right-hander Taijuan Walker (4-6, 3.34) to start Friday’s game.
Walker was on the losing end against Cavalli last Saturday despite permitting just two runs on six hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Shortly after the game, the Phillies announced that ace Zack Wheeler was dealing with a blood clot in his upper right arm.
That news ultimately kept Walker in the rotation — at least for another start versus the Nationals. Walker, 33, is 2-3 with a 3.38 ERA in nine career appearances (all starts) against Washington.