Trea Turner can still change a game with his speed. And his adjustments help give him a chance.

CHICAGO — Down in the count, with the bases loaded in the 10th inning Sunday night, Trea Turner saw a two-strike slider that he thought he could drive.

Instead, he chopped it to third base.

“I was mad,” the Phillies’ $300 million shortstop said later. “Felt like I should’ve hit it better.”

Probably. But Turner, two months shy of turning 32, is still among the fastest handful of players in baseball. So, the possible outcomes of even an 84-mph one-hopper — heck, any ball in play at any speed — are a little more promising when it comes off his bat.

As it turned out, inexperienced Cubs third baseman Vidal Bruján backed up on the ball. Turner got down the line at 31.4 feet per second, his fastest time so far this season, and beat out an infield hit that scored a critical insurance run in a series-winning 3-1 victory at Wrigley Field.

“That’s what he can do,” manager Rob Thomson said. “He can change a game. With his legs, with his power, with his hitting ability, he can change a game.”

Sometimes, it seems as though Turner forgets about that first part.

The Phillies didn’t sign Turner to the second-largest contract in franchise history because they expected him to bash 30 home runs per year. They signed him to be athletic and dynamic. They signed him to make things happen with his legs as much as his bat.

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But in his first two seasons with the Phillies, Turner swung at more pitches out of the strike zone than earlier in his career with the Nationals. He tried to muscle up and pull more balls to left field rather than going the other way.

Thomson and hitting coach Kevin Long visited with Turner at his home in Florida in January. They wanted him to make adjustments at the plate. They discussed whether moving him into the leadoff spot would spur better plate discipline. (He usually leads off when the Phillies face a lefty starter.)

And Turner has done as they asked. His rate of swings on out-of-the-zone pitches is down to 28.6%, slightly less than major-league average (29.3%) and well below his 33.9% and 35.3% marks from the last two years. He’s even drawing more walks.

But Turner also isn’t driving the ball as much. His hard-hit rate is down. He has only one homer — way back on April 9 — and five extra-base hits. He’s slugging .330, far off his career .478 mark.

Turner isn’t alone. As a team, the Phillies came into the week ranked third in walks (120) and on-base percentage (. 338) but tied for 15th in doubles (43), 25th in homers (22), and 23rd in slugging (. 375).

The Phillies have homered only twice in the last eight games. And they scored six runs in the third inning Saturday against the Cubs by stringing together four singles in a row and five in all.

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“Well, we put an emphasis on controlling the strike zone, and it’s showing up,” Thomson said. “Our slug numbers are down, but I don’t think it has anything to do with that. I think it’s just the fact that we’re going through a time period right now where we’ve run into some colder weather.

“And that’ll change. We have guys that slug in our lineup. But as long as we’re controlling the strike zone, we’ve got a shot to score some runs.”

Especially when Turner, in particular, puts the ball in play.

“[Saturday], in the inning where we scored the six runs, we got some lucky hits there, and sometimes you need things to fall your way to kind of build some momentum,” Turner said. “Hopefully that’s the start of pretty good baseball.”

In discussing the adjustments that Aaron Nola made last week after going 0-5 with a 6.43 ERA in five starts, pitching coach Caleb Cotham left an interesting breadcrumb.

“I think there’s a piece of like, on [tougher] days, pivoting in-game to maybe a different way of thinking, a different plan that he can go to,” he said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, it’s not there today. Let’s do something different.’”

Nola didn’t switch up his plan midstream against the Cubs. But he did feature his cutter, his least-used pitch. In seven innings, he threw 17 cutters, one more than in his last three starts combined, and got six swings and misses. It was the most he threw in any start since last May 25.

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“Cutter felt really good,” Nola said. “It might have been as good as it’s been in a while. I think that opened up some stuff.”

Given that Nola leads all major-league pitchers in starts and innings since 2017, it’s possible he will need to give a new look to hitters who are so used to facing him. The cutter is a potential wrinkle if he’s able to throw it effectively.

“Once he figured he had that cutter, he used it, and that’s what you’ve got to do,” Thomson said. “You might not have it in the ‘pen, but all of a sudden, you get out on the mound, you find a pitch, and you go with it.”

Four days after getting walked off in a 10-inning loss in New York, Jordan Romano was entrusted with a two-run lead in the 10th inning Sunday night.

This time, he got three outs on 13 drama-free pitches.

Romano doesn’t tend to show emotion on the mound. But after knocking down Nico Hoerner’s two-out comebacker, he took five steps toward first base, underhanded the ball to Bryce Harper, and tapped his glove three times.

“Usually I try to stay even-keeled, but that one felt pretty good,” Romano said. “Just the way the season’s been going, no, that one felt good. Still felt confident out there despite my struggles.”

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And make no mistake, it’s been a struggle. Romano gave up two runs on opening day and has a 12.19 ERA in 12 outings. The low point: a six-run ninth inning April 19 against the Marlins, after which the Phillies suspected he might have been tipping pitches.

“You come to a new place, big expectations for yourself, you want to prove you’re good enough and you can contribute,” Romano said. “But in that struggle, there’s some beauty to it. You test yourself, see what you’ve got.”

Maybe Romano is finally over the hump. Five of his last seven appearances have been scoreless.

“I don’t know if there’s ever such a thing as ‘over the hump,’” he said, “but I’ve felt pretty good the last week or two.”

In three starts so far for low-A Clearwater, top prospect Andrew Painter has a 2.45 ERA and 10 strikeouts in 7⅓ innings. … Right-hander Seth Johnson has allowed one hit and four walks in three scoreless appearances since being moved to the bullpen in triple A. His fastball has scraped 98.5 mph.