PHILADELPHIA — Possibly facing one of the longest injury absences of his career, it didn’t take long for Trea Turner to decide whether the news he got Saturday on his injured hamstring was better or worse than he feared.
“Ah, I would say … a little bit of both,” Turner said.
So while it was better news than what he envisioned when he first suffered the injury on a slide into home on a passed ball against the Giants on Friday night, it might prove to be a little worse, too. At least it sounded that way when Turner was told what an MRI Saturday morning indicated.
“I think they’re saying six weeks or so … anything before that, I think, would be a win,” Turner said. “That’s what they’re telling me right now. But I know that injuries in general, I think it’s always tricky to put a timeline on that. But that’s what they’re telling me.”
Turner had injured a hamstring early in the 2017 season, but only missed about two weeks of action for the Nationals. He has suffered more significant injuries by breaking bones on pitches; a right wrist in 2017 that cost him two months, and a fractured index finger while trying to bunt against the Phillies at the start of the 2019 season, costing him about six weeks.
“I’ve only been on the IL with that hamstring one time and broken bones. And broken bones you just sit and wait and you can’t do anything,” Turner said. “That’s one reason I’m more optimistic with this. As you gain strength and get healthier you can kind of ramp up, so it kind of depends on me. It’s not just sitting around waiting for a bone to heal.
“I’ve been fortunate enough to be healthy in my career, minus those two hit-by-pitches, so hopefully I can put this one behind me and get back.”
Turner, 30, will hope a quick return to what he achieved over the first 33 games. He was slashing .343/.392/.460 with a couple of home runs and nine RBIs. It’s been a far cry from his eternally long slow start in his first Phillies season.
All of that could make this wait for a ramped-up rehab seem all the longer.
“It’s Hour 2, so right now I’m OK,” Turner said. “But I’m sure after two or three days I’ll already be sick of it. It’s going to be tough watching. But I’ll try to help out in any way I can, talk to guys and hopefully still be there with them.”
The Phillies recalled Kody Clemens from Lehigh Valley to fill the roster void.
“It’s tough, that’s one of the best players in the game you’re losing,” manager Rob Thomson said. “But we’ve been through this before; people just pick it up. That’s why you’ve got a team.”
Utility infielder Edmundo Sosa took Turner’s spot at short and batted eighth in the lineup against the Giants Saturday night. But as Thomson indicated, filling in for Turner could take a bit of a village.
“For the most part, Sosa’s going to be playing at short,” Thomson said of Sosa, who entered Saturday’s game hitting .286. “But we have to be careful with him, too, because he hasn’t played every day. You run him out there 10 days in a row, you’re probably putting him in danger. So we’ll gauge that.
“When he doesn’t play, we’re probably comfortable with (Bryson) Stott playing short and Whit (Merrifield) playing second or Clemens playing second.”
Stott seems like a logical replacement, although it’s been a couple of seasons since he manned that position on even a semi-routine basis.
“Yeah, he’s been good over there in the past,” Turner said of his middle infield partner, a Gold Glove finalist last season. “He was second in Gold Glove, and obviously that transfers over at the other side. So completing plays and getting outs, I think he’s great at that. I have all the confidence in the world with him.”
