Nats turn to Turner's power, not speed, to secure first win

He's perhaps the fastest player in baseball, and he already has twice as many stolen bases as anyone else in the sport. And because of that, there's sometimes a perception that Trea Turner needs to be a small-ball guy, someone who just needs to put the bat on the ball and then take advantage of his speed.

Thing is, Turner also has serious pop in that bat, as evidenced by the 19 home runs he hit last season.

So when the Nationals desperately needed someone to deliver them a win - their first of 2019 - late this afternoon after another bullpen meltdown, they turned to their starting shortstop to deliver it, not with speed but with power.

Turner's pair of home runs, capped by a walk-off bullet down the left field line in the bottom of the ninth, secured the Nats that much-needed first victory of the year. They've still got issues to sort out, especially in their bullpen, but right now they're just happy to celebrate a 6-5 win made possible by one of the biggest highlights of Turner's career.

"It's up there," he said. "Home runs are always nice, but a walk-off home run to put your team on top is very nice, too. Especially in your home stadium with the fans going crazy."

Turner's first blast, a three-run moonshot off Zack Wheeler that somehow traveled 440 feet straight through a 20 mph wind blowing in from left field, gave the Nationals their first lead of the season. His second blast, a 380-foot line drive off a 3-2 fastball from lefty Justin Wilson, gave the Nationals their first win of the season.

Oh, and in between all of that, Turner also stole his fourth base in three games to put himself in position to score another run and made a nifty turn on Brian Dozier's shovel pass from his glove for a key 4-6-3 double play.

"What a game by Trea today," said Patrick Corbin, whose six-inning quality start in his Nationals debut became something of a footnote by day's end. "That was pretty special to see that in person. Stealing bases, hitting for power, playing great defense ... it's going to be fun watching him all year."

When Turner came up to bat with runners on the corners and nobody out in the bottom of the third, the Nationals trailing 1-0, he couldn't help but think back to the identical situation he found himself in on opening day. In that instance, Turner was looking for a safety squeeze sign, never got it and decided to swing away. He proceeded to strike out with some wild hacks at Jacob deGrom's fastball.

Presented the exact same scenario today, Turner again looked for the squeeze sign and didn't get it. He contemplated doing it on his own but decided to swing away. He proceeded to launch that 440-foot blast into the bleachers.

"So I came back in the dugout and said I thought about bunting, because they didn't give me the bunt sign," Turner said. "I thought about it, but I gave myself a pitch to hit. And I asked (manager Davey Martinez) if he was OK with that."

Martinez's response: "Guess what? Your next four at-bats, think about bunting for a hit and keep hitting it the way you've been hitting it."

It's a good thing Turner did keep swinging away, because it allowed him to end this game in dramatic fashion. And it allowed the Nationals to walk off the field feeling a whole lot better about themselves following a second consecutive bullpen meltdown.

When Tony Sipp, Trevor Rosenthal and Sean Doolittle combined to give up three runs on five singles in the top of the eighth, leaving the game tied, the mood in the dugout could have turned downtrodden. Instead, it turned jubilant as Turner raced around the bases and leaped into the welcoming arms of his teammates surrounding the plate.

"When your teammates bail you out, that's the chemistry that we talked about," Doolittle said. "That's playing team baseball for the whole entire game."

There are issues for this team to address, perhaps even before they take the field again Tuesday night against Bryce Harper and the Phillies. But they'll be addressing them with a 1-2 record instead of an 0-3 black mark next to their name.

And that counts for something.

"It doesn't matter how we win, just as long as we do win," Turner said. "We put ourselves in a tough spot, but we dug ourselves out. It was a good one."