Booed by mom(!), Trea follows with 'his signature moment'

PHILADELPHIA -- Trea Turner had a text waiting for him when he returned to the home clubhouse following Wednesday's thrilling 6-5 comeback win over the D-backs at Citizens Bank Park.

"Good game, except for your fourth at-bat," it read. "I was booing you."

The sender?

Turner's mom, Donna.

She certainly wasn't the only one booing after Turner's seventh-inning strikeout. With the Phillies trailing by two and Bryson Stott on second base, Turner fouled off a pitch above the zone before flailing wildly at back-to-back pitches well out of the zone and in the dirt for an ugly strikeout.

"They don't bother me," Turner said of the boos. "My mom prepared me for anything in this game or in this world. She was tough on me from an early age, and not much fazes me."

Turner proved it two innings later. Again, stepping to the dish representing the potential tying run, albeit with the Phillies down to their final out this time around, Turner jumped on a first-pitch curveball for a game-tying two-run homer.

"That was big," manager Rob Thomson said. "Maybe that's his signature moment that gets him going here."

So how did Turner put that seventh-inning strikeout behind him so quickly?

"It was horrible, so there was no point to think about it ever again," Turner said.

Turner has had no problem being blunt about the start to his Phillies tenure. "I've sucked," he said earlier this week.

Many of those in attendance Wednesday seemed to agree with Turner leading up to his ninth-inning heroics. Though he hit the ball hard in each of his first three at-bats -- a 100.8 mph lineout, a 96.8 mph flyout and a 96.2 mph groundout -- they all ended the same way as his seventh-inning strikeout: Turner jogging back to the dugout amid a smattering of boos.

His season OPS had dropped to .666 at that point -- 58th out of 59 players with at least 200 plate appearances at the time.

"I felt like I've been having better at-bats and just kind of no luck -- hitting it right at people," Turner said. "But, good spot to hit a homer. So it felt pretty good."

Turner's blast set the stage for a walk-off bases-loaded single in the 10th from Alec Bohm, who is also no stranger to hearing it from the hometown fans. Bohm's now infamous "I [expletive] hate this place" line is not only a thing of the past, but he's become a fan favorite in Philadelphia.

Needless to say, listening to a raucous crowd as you round the bases on a game-tying homer far outweighs hearing boos on the long walk back to the dugout.

"I feel like everybody that plays here kind of goes through it, right?" Bohm said. "It's sort of one of those things that just happens to you being here. So now, [Turner’s] kind of experienced the full thing, and hopefully, he's ready to take off from here."

The Phillies are hoping the same rings true for the team as a whole.

On the verge of being swept for the fourth time this season, the Phils instead hit the road for a 10-game divisional road trip -- one that includes their first meetings with the Braves and Mets -- coming off what Thomson called “one of the biggest wins we've had in the last couple years."

“I think it was good for us,” Turner said. “Tough series and it looked like we were going to get swept going into an important road trip. … The home run was nice, but the win was pretty important and it felt good coming back in [the clubhouse] with the guys.”

That’s a feeling that Turner has been chasing over his first few months as a Phillie -- and one that the team has been chasing through the first 49 games of its National League title defense.

Though Philadelphia sits in fourth place in the NL East at just 23-26, the silver lining for both Turner and the Phillies is that they have played only three divisional games to this point -- five fewer than any other team in the Majors.

Thursday marks the start of a four-game set in Atlanta, followed by three games in New York against the Mets. Overall, the Phils play 36 more games against NL East foes, including 13 apiece against the Braves and Mets.

“These fans just want to win. They don't care about anything else other than winning,” Turner said. “And that's nice, because that's what we want as players. The electric atmosphere was really good. That's what makes this game fun -- sharing those moments.”