Written by Chelsea Janes at Washington Post.com
When Trea Turner slid into third base, having just completed the third cycle in Washington Nationals history, he dusted himself off and looked around, hoping someone would verify the feat.
“Wait a second,” he said, though he was not sure third base coach Bobby Henley had heard him when he did not receive an answer. Not until Turner saw the visitors’ dugout clamoring for the baseball did he know for sure.
“That was kind of my confirmation that I actually did it,” Turner said. “I saw people ask for the ball and I saw people clapping at me.”
Turner drove in seven runs Tuesday night, which combined with Daniel Murphy’s five RBI to lift the Nationals to a 15-12 win. They are now tied for the most wins in the majors at 14, and will finish a road trip they had dreaded with at least seven wins. At its outset, they would have probably settled for five.
Turner was not constructed for nights like Tuesday, when he wore a fleece mask and his long sleeves billowed as he chugged around the bases four times. Forty-degree evenings with gusting winds are not a common occurrence in Florida, where Turner played his high school ball, nor at North Carolina State, where he emerged as an elite prospect.
But on a frigid evening with gusting winds and the threat of snow, Turner showcased the speed and offensive versatility that helped him become a rookie of the year candidate last year, and a staple of the Nationals’ future for years to come.
Sixty six minutes passed as a chilly rain fell before he got his shot. After the rain delay, temperatures sat in the mid-40s and only fell from there, producing the kind of night that normally belongs to pitchers and not to hitters, who risk paralyzing their hands with bad contact and see well-hit balls fall short of their destination. Turner, who admitted he’s “a baby when it comes to the cold,” seemed unaffected.
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