Justin Turner Pokes Fun At Former Teammate After Red Sox Beat Rangers

BOSTON — The two times Red Sox first baseman Justin Turner came to the plate with a runner in scoring position Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers, he looked to put the ball in the air.

Turner didn’t do that in either at-bat, but everything still worked out for him.

The 15-year pro supplied half of Boston’s offense in its 4-2 win over the Rangers at Fenway Park, keeping the ball on the ground to do so as he went 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

“I don’t know if it changes a whole lot, but just trying to look for something up in the zone that I can drive to the outfield,” Turner said of his approach in those situations. “Obviously tonight I got good results, but not necessarily trying to hit ground balls. I hit four ground balls tonight and a couple of them just had eyes and snuck through there.”

Turner’s RBI single in the fifth inning that drove in Masataka Yoshida, who began the frame with an opposite-field double off Rangers starter Jon Gray, proved to be the decisive run. Turner’s hit almost got gobbled up by Corey Seager, though, before it made its way into the outfield.

And Turner was surprised to see his former teammate of seven seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers lunge after the ball with a dive.

“I saw Corey Seager dive for a ball for the first time in eight years,” Turner said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘What the heck you doing, man? Like, why you trying to dive and take a hit away from me?'”

While Seager missed that opportunity at shortstop to make a play, he sure didn’t miss many chances at the plate, going 3-or-4 with a double.

And though Seager earned his fourth All-Star nod this season, Turner’s been making quite the impact during his first campaign with the Red Sox. So much so, that there was no joking from Red Sox manager Alex Cora when discussing all that Turner provides.

“He’s been solid (defensively at first). Been working hard. There was a ground ball that he went back today on a hop. We’ve been working on those,” Cora said. “Like I said, with him, you just put him out there and he’ll make the plays. He’s such a good baseball player. The at-bats are really good, but the baserunning aspect and the defense, his intuition, just talking to pitchers and moving guys around, this guy, he’s a good baseball player.”