PHILADELPHIA — The Dodgers’ offense, with 58 runs in the nine games before Saturday, has started to fulfill its potential of late.

Justin Turner and Max Muncy have not.

Counted on to add heft to the middle of the Dodgers’ lineup and length to it overall, Turner and Muncy entered Saturday’s game with batting averages below .200, OPS under .640 and subterranean OPS-plus (84 for Muncy, 74 for Turner).

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts isn’t saying he has a solution, but he thinks he might be able to help. Roberts has alternated Muncy and Turner between third base and designated hitter for most of the season’s first five weeks. He says he is going to moderate that a bit going forward with Muncy getting more consistent time at third base and Turner, who made his 19th start at DH on Saturday, starting “three out of five” or “something like that” at DH.

“I tried to essentially thread the needle with him and Max, as far as giving them starts at third, starts at DH,” Roberts said. “You could argue that, with no definitive kind of role, as far as a DH or third baseman, you can’t get comfortable.

“So I’m gonna give Justin more DH days, so he can get more used to that role, and give Max more third base days. … Getting each of those guys more accustomed to a certain role, I think, ultimately could be beneficial.”

Neither Turner nor Muncy is willing to point to the shared roles as a factor for his offensive struggles. But both acknowledged learning how to DH has been a challenge.

“You’re basically learning a new position,” said Muncy, who is 2 for 26 (.077) as a DH this season. “Everyone just thinks, ‘Oh, you’re hitting.’ But you’re really learning a new position because you have to figure out what to do between your at-bats. You have to figure out how to shut it off, how to carry yourself. It really is almost like learning a new position. So maybe there is a little bit to that. But I don’t think me or Justin is ever going to use that as an excuse.

“It’s not the easiest thing in the world. I think anyone that plays baseball will tell you that. It’s hard to do that.”

The challenge is more mental than physical, Turner said, and he has landed on a DH-day routine to deal with that.

“I think the hardest part about DHing is the amount of time in between at-bats,” Turner said. “You have so much time to dwell on your last at-bat, where when you’re playing defense as soon as you leave the dugout you forget about your last at-bat because you have to focus on playing defense. So it was easy to flush away whatever happened and move on.

“As a DH, you sit in the dugout and you’re just thinking about that last at-bat for an hour or however long before your next at-bat. It’s not as much about staying loose – which is definitely part of it, you’ve still got to stay loose. You don’t want to just sit on the bench for an hour then go up and hit again. But it’s more of finding a way to move on from that at-bat and not be thinking about it for an hour between at-bats.”

So Turner and vice president of player performance Brandon McDaniel have developed a workout routine that Turner goes through between at-bats. It allows Turner to stay loose physically and “flush” away the previous at-bat mentally.

“If you go up your first at-bat and you don’t get a good result, human nature tells you to go in the cage and hit. I’ve got to fix it,” Turner said. “Then you’re taking a bunch of swings and you go up and hit again and you don’t get a good result, so you go back in the cage. Next thing you know, you’ve got five at-bats and you’ve taken 400 swings in the cage, which I don’t think is good for anyone.

“There’s a fine line between knowing when you’ve got to take a couple swings to just stay loose versus going in and tinkering between every at-bat and driving yourself crazy. That’s kind of why I started this routine in the weight room. It’s a way to release it and stay loose but not pick up a bat and take 200, 400 swings a night.”

MAY DAYS

Right-hander Dustin May is in Arizona, continuing his rehab from Tommy John surgery just over a year ago.

May’s recovery has gone smoothly so far and Roberts said he remains on track for a return to action in the second half of the season.

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“Sometime in August is fair, potentially earlier,” Roberts said. “It’s going really well. I think he’s throwing ‘pens, throwing to hitters. Now it’s just that build up as a starter.

“He’s worked his tail off to put himself in this position.”

UP NEXT

Dodgers (RHP Tony Gonsolin, 4-0, 1.64 ERA) at Phillies (RHP Zach Eflin, 1-3, 3.90 ERA), 10:30 a.m. Sunday, SportsNet LA, MLB Network (out of market only), 570 AM