Phillies back Nola with 3 homers and down Dodgers 5-1 to finish 3-game sweep

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Brandon Marsh hit a home run and an RBI triple, Trea Turner launched his sixth longball in nine games and the Philadelphia Phillies completed a three-game sweep of the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 5-1 victory Thursday night.

Aaron Nola (11-4) struck out nine in six innings and Kyle Schwarber also went deep for the Phillies, who swept the Dodgers for the first time since 2011 — and the first time in Philadelphia since 2008. Los Angeles has lost four straight and eight of 12 overall.

“(Nola’s) been tremendous,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “He’s Mr. Consistency. You look at tonight’s game, and the first two innings he’s in trouble, and he keeps grinding and battling. In the second inning (with the bases loaded) he strikes out (Shohei) Ohtani and gets a groundball from (Will) Smith and gets out of it. Then he settled in and as the game went on, he got better. He’s been dynamite all year.”

In a matchup between the top two teams in the National League, the Phillies led in every inning of the series except for the first one on Tuesday, which ended with both teams scoreless. They outscored the Dodgers 19-5 in the three games.

“I’d be lying if I said we didn’t wake up differently for games like this,” Marsh said. “It’s a big test for us to see where we stand and I think we held our own.”

Marsh clubbed a 3-1 fastball from Landon Knack into the right-field seats leading off the second inning. Marsh then ripped a triple off Knack down the right-field line in the sixth, scoring Nick Castellanos to put the Phillies ahead 3-1.

Marsh is batting .304 with all nine of his homers against right-handed pitchers this season.

“I’m going to take a page out of (Castellanos’) book,” Marsh said. “It’s just see ball, hit ball. Keep it simple. It’s hard enough as it is. The second you try to complicate it even more, it’s just downhill. … Just trust the work and stay stubborn to it.”

Turner hit a solo shot in the first inning off Dodgers opener Anthony Banda (1-2) and added an infield single in the fourth. In the 21 games since he returned to Philadelphia's lineup following a 38-game stint on the injured list with a left hamstring strain, Turner is batting .356 with 11 multi-hit games.

Johan Rojas had an RBI single for Philadelphia and made a leaping catch to rob Gavin Lux of an extra-base hit, bouncing off the outfield wall in two places.

“I’ve always said, every hitter who hits the ball toward me, if he wants it to be a hit, he’s going to have to hit it out,” Rojas said through a translator. "The ball they hit, the ball I catch. If it’s not out, it’s in my glove.”

Nola allowed one run and four hits. His 11 wins rank second in the NL behind Atlanta lefty Chris Sale (12).

Lux provided the only offense for the Dodgers when he homered off the base of the left-field foul pole against Nola in the fifth.

“They’re clearly playing a lot better baseball than we are,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “They’re clearly a better baseball team than we are right now. … Like I always say, no one’s going to feel sorry for you. You've got to play better."

TRAINER'S ROOM

Phillies 1B Bryce Harper returned to the lineup after missing one game with a bruised left hand. Harper took a line drive off his glove hand in the second inning of Tuesday’s game against the Dodgers — his first game back after missing nine with a left hamstring strain.

UP NEXT

Los Angeles turns to LHP James Paxton (7-2, 4.24 ERA) against Tigers All-Star LHP Tarik Skubal (10-3, 2.37) to start a weekend series Friday in Detroit.

The Phillies send All-Star LHP Ranger Suárez (10-3, 2.58 ERA) to the mound against Oakland LHP Hogan Harris (1-3, 3.22) in Philadelphia on Friday.

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/mlb

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani breaks his bat on a ground out against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Matt Strahm during the seventh inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber hits a home run against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryan Yarbrough during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies pitcher José Alvarado reacts after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' José Alvarado celebrates with Garrett Stubbs after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Kyle Schwarber, left, rounds the bases after hitting a home run against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Ryan Yarbrough during the eighth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Los Angeles Dodgers shortstop Miguel Rojas hangs onto a single by Philadelphia Phillies' Bryce Harper during the third inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani flies out against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola during the first inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies third baseman Alec Bohm catches a fly out by Los Angeles Dodgers' Miguel Rojas during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Los Angeles Dodgers' Shohei Ohtani reacts after a strike against Philadelphia Phillies pitcher Aaron Nola during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner reacts after flying out against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack during the fifth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Trea Turner rounds the bases after hitting a home run against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Anthony Banda during the first inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Aaron Nola pitches during the third inning of a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Nick Castellanos, left, scores past Los Angeles Dodgers catcher Will Smith on a triple by Brandon Marsh during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh follows through after hitting a run-scoring triple against Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Landon Knack during the sixth inning of a baseball game, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Philadelphia Phillies' Brandon Marsh is doused by Bryson Stott after the Phillies won a baseball game against the Los Angeles Dodgers, Thursday, July 11, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

BERLIN (AP) — Germany's newest panda twin s are thriving at the Berlin Zoo. The cubs spent their first five days of life taking turns cuddling and drinking milk from their mother every hour.

Born Thursday to mother Meng Meng, 11, the zoo said Tuesday that it's cautiously optimistic during this critical period — panda cub mortality is at its highest within the first two weeks of birth and through the first month because they don't yet have a functioning immune system.

Without human help, one of the cubs likely would not have survived because giant pandas usually only raise one cub when they give birth to twins. So the zoo has stepped in with a team that includes experts from China's Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, who are on a visit to Berlin.

When one of the twins is with their mother, the other is spending time in an incubator donated by a Berlin hospital.

“Without protective measures, the giant panda would most likely already be extinct,” zoo director Andreas Knieriem said in Tuesday’s news release, adding "every cub that grows up healthy counts.”

China gifted friendly nations with its unofficial mascot for decades as part of a “panda diplomacy″ policy. The country now loans pandas to zoos on commercial terms. There are about 1,800 pandas living in the wild in China and a few hundred in captivity worldwide.

Currently deaf, blind and pink — their black-and-white panda markings will develop later — the firstborn twin now weighs 180 grams, while the second is roughly 145 grams (6.35 and 5.11 ounces). Both have regained their birth weights and added more grams, which the zoo considers a promising sign. The cubs' sex has not yet been determined “with certainty.”

Meng Meng was artificially inseminated on March 26. Female pandas are fertile only for a few days per year at the most. The twins' father, 14-year-old Jiao Qing, is not involved in rearing the cubs.

Meng Meng and Jiao Qing arrived in Berlin in 2017. In August 2019, Meng Meng gave birth to male twins Pit and Paule, also known by the Chinese names Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, the first giant pandas born in Germany.

Those twins flew to China in December on a journey that was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic but had been contractually agreed to from the beginning.

FILE -An embryo of a panda bear of pregnant panda Meng Meng is marked on the screen of an ultrasound machine at the panda enclosure at Berlin Zoo, Aug. 13, 2024. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP, File)

FILE -An embryo of a panda bear of pregnant panda Meng Meng is marked on the screen of an ultrasound machine at the panda enclosure at Berlin Zoo, Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (Sebastian Gollnow/dpa via AP, File)

This photo released by the Zoo Berlin shows employee measuring newborn giant panda twins at the Zoo in Berlin on Thursday, Aug. 22, 20024. (© 2024 Zoo Berlin via AP)

This photo released by the Zoo Berlin shows employee measuring two new born giant pandas at the Zoo in Berlin on Thursday, Aug. 22, 20024. (© 2024 Zoo Berlin via AP)