Dave Roberts had a decision to make before finalizing his lineup card Saturday afternoon.
For the first time since the Dodgers acquired him at the trade deadline, infielder Trea Turner was ready to start a game.
With the Washington Nationals, the first-time All-Star usually hit first or second — where Mookie Betts and Max Muncy bat for the Dodgers. Turner is also a natural shortstop, the same position held by Corey Seager.
So, the Dodgers’ manager did his best to keep everyone happy. Turner was the leadoff hitter, with Betts batting third and Justin Turner moving to fifth. Seager remained at shortstop, pushing Trea Turner over to second.
“These are good problems, certainly,” Roberts said before the game. “I think it just speaks to the talent.”
In a 5-3 win against the Angels, that depth of talent was on display. Seven of the Dodgers’ eight position players got a hit. Starter Julio Urías gave up three runs (two earned) in five innings. And the bullpen blanked the Angels down the stretch, ensuring Chris Taylor’s tiebreaking, two-run double in the eighth was enough to even this weekend’s Freeway Series.
Trea Turner helped open the scoring in the first inning, drawing a leadoff walk before racing home on a double by Max Muncy in the next at-bat. Muncy later scored on a Seager single to make it 2-0.
Turner spoke with reporters before the game about his whirlwind trade deadline week, which included a positive COVID-19 test and nonstop rumors about whether or not the Nationals would trade him.
“I would go back and forth: ‘Oh, they’re not going to trade me. Oh, yup they are,’” he said. “Social media, you read all these things, talking to my agents, you just have to be prepared for whatever.”
Turner said Saturday that he would have loved to stay with the Nationals, for whom he had played all seven seasons of his big league career, and that he also would have been open to signing a long-term extension with the team before becoming a free agent after next season.
But he said the club didn’t make him an offer before the deadline.
Following the trade, Washington president of baseball operations Mike Rizzo indicated that Turner and his representatives told the Nationals they wanted to wait and see what happened with this offseason’s class of free-agent shortstops before beginning extension talks.
But Turner disputed that account Saturday.
“The last two or three years, I’ve been pretty honest,” he said. “I said I would talk about an extension whenever and waited for that to happen. It didn’t happen. I’ve been told a lot of things over the last two years. For me, actions speak louder than words.”
Then Turner changed the topic.
“That’s in the past now. It’s over with,” he said. “I’m excited to start a new chapter.”
Turner added: “To be traded to a great organization, an organization that is trying to win championships, is always a good thing,” Turner said. “I’m excited for the opportunity to help compete here and help play, help these guys accomplish what all of us want to do.”
And even though the Angels stormed back in the middle of Saturday’s game with three runs in the third inning — José Iglesias hit an RBI double, Phil Gosselin produced an RBI single and Dodgers first baseman Muncy dropped a two-out infield popup that allowed Gosselin to race home — the Dodgers had too much down the stretch.
Cody Bellinger hit a game-tying home run to lead off the seventh, a solo blast deep into the right-field seats.
Then, the Dodgers went ahead for good in the eighth. Seager hit a leadoff single. Will Smith put runners on the corners with a one-out base hit. Then Taylor drove them both home, sending a double into the left-center gap to help the Dodgers stay four games behind the San Francisco Giants — who also won on Saturday — in the National League West standings.
Betts’ bothersome hip
Roberts said there will be “constant conversation” between Betts and the team’s training staff regarding his bothersome right hip, which forced the right fielder to exit Friday night’s game early.
Roberts added that the former most valuable player will be “playing with a governor” in the outfield and on the bases.
“I don’t believe just resting it will help anything,” Roberts said. “I think all of it is just managing it.”
Roberts said Betts will have a scheduled off day Sunday and occasionally could play at second base on days in which Seager or Turner is off.
This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.