Former NC State baseball standout Trea Turner and the Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Dodgers in Los Angeles, California on Wednesday night to advance to the National League Championship Series.
Turner is the final Pack pro still alive in the 2019 MLB Playoffs since Andrew Knizner of the St. Louis Cardinals did not make the NLDS roster. The Nationals won games two and four en route to the best-of-five series win thanks to a 10th-inning grand slam by Howie Kendrick to break the tie and put the Nationals up 7-3.
The Nationals were down 3-0 until the sixth inning when they got one back to make it 3-1. Then, in the eighth inning, Anthony Rendon and Juan Soto hit back-to-back homers to tie the game at 3 apiece.
Turner went 0 for 4 with a walk against Walker Buehler, Clayton Kershaw and the Los Angeles pitching staff in game five. Overall, however, Turner was still productive throughout the whole NLDS.
The shortstop went 6 for 21 (.286) with three runs and two walks batting leadoff in five games with no errors in the field. Turner finished the regular season with a .298 batting average, tied for 20th in the majors. He also stole 35 bases, good for fifth in the MLB, while still missing about 40 games due to injury.
The Dodgers were one of the favorites to win the World Series, so the Nationals knocking them off was probably a surprise to most, especially in Los Angeles for game five.
Trea Turner will need to pick it up in the National League Championship Series against the Cardinals, starting on Friday, Oct. 11 at 8:08 p.m. in St. Louis, Missouri.
