Turner goes for career-high four hits, but pair of overturned calls stunt Nats chances

BALTIMORE - Center fielder Trea Turner continues to impact every game he plays at the big league level, and has pretty much erased one of the Nationals' early season weaknesses.

Turner went 4-for-4 in an 8-1 loss to the Orioles. The four hits, three singles and a double, were a career-high. The top of the order is generating offense again, thanks to Turner.

But the offense was never able to really get rolling Tuesday due in part to a pair of calls that went against the speedster.

Turner was involved in two overturned calls after singles in the first and third innings. Each time, he was called safe at second base after an apparent stolen base. But Orioles manager Buck Showalter challenged each call. And each time, the call was overturned.

In all, the Nationals had three calls overturned on the night. All three calls turned potentially safe runners out.

Manager Dusty Baker believes the replay system takes too long to process their decisions, breaking up the flow of the game.

"No. 1, I just think it takes too long," Baker said. "It takes too long and they've gotta do something to correct the length of time. Maybe after 30 seconds if they're inconclusive, then come up with whatever the umpire said.

"The thing about it, is that it sort of makes a point of why do we need umpires, if you're going to dispute everything that they say? I don't know. I'm kind of new this year to replay, but it's tough to lose three of them. I don't think anybody's ever lost three of them. To me, it doesn't make the umpires look very good. I just hope they correct this."

Turner did not like the calls either. On the second overturned call, Turner made his way back to the dugout before New York had even relayed the change in the on-field call.

"Don't care for it too much," Turner said. "I don't think I, or we, or anybody on this side has really benefit from it, so for that reason I don't really care for it."

Baker said the pair of potential stolen bases turned out to be throws that were off line, but catcher Matt Wieters' throws to second baseman Jonathan Schoop were off line in the right spot, near the body of the sliding Turner.

"Yeah, he's stealing the bases but you can't do anything if the throws are towards first base," Baker said. "They weren't very good throws. It just happens they were very good tags. You got a 6-foot-4, long arm second baseman, and most people don't even get down in that position to make that tag. Because when you look at him and you look at (DJ) LeMahieu, they aren't your prototypical second basemen.

"Heck, they are both 6-foot-3, 6-foot-4 (editor's note: Schoop listed 6-foot-1, LeMahieu 6-foot-4). You don't see second baseman that tall. It's frustrating for Trea, but I was glad that Trea did try a second time and not get shut down because he got thrown out one time. He had the bags but the throws were inside the line. It's called stealing. Like I said before, you're going to get caught sometimes, but urge him to run. They're not going to throw him out that often."

Turner went on to register a career-high four hits, with three singles and a double. That was one promising result on Tuesday. Turner has been doing a good job of jump starting the top of the order recently, which will help the heavy bats that come up after him in the order. The four-hit outbust was a good sign for Turner after three strikeouts Monday, including the swing and miss against Zach Britton that ended the game.

"Got lucky in a couple at-bats but overall I felt better, I felt pretty good in my last two at-bats last night," Turner said. "I feel like I always make the adjustment. Eventually, it's just a matter of when. I expect to come in everyday and either repeat what I did yesterday or tinker just a little bit and make the small adjustment that I feel like I need to for success."

Baker said Turner is showing he belongs with his quality swings at the top of the order.

"This is a young man that's very determined," Baker said. "Failure doesn't exist with him evidently because most guys that would've struck out three times, they'd be passive and not very aggressive the next night. You got to give him credit for having some gumption and having some fight."

But the caught stealing calls really hurt the Nationals' offensive opportunities early, especially as the Orioles built a 6-0 lead.

"I think just being in scoring position is big and it always gives you a chance," Turner said. "It stinks that I got thrown out because, looking back at it, we'd probably end up putting some runs on the board. But, I think this lineup is deep and (Jayson Werth) had a great at-bat, Harper put together the same thing. I think our lineup's deep and we can score runs at any point in time."