Phillies ace ‘big test’ with statement sweep of Dodgers

PHILADELPHIA — A comically heavy fog filled the Phillies’ clubhouse on Thursday night at Citizens Bank Park.

Fog is nothing new following home victories. A couple years ago, Aaron Nola purchased a fog machine, which sat next to Zack Wheeler‘s locker. But Nola recently upgraded to a bigger, better, more powerful model. Its smoke blanketed the home clubhouse in an absurdly thick cloud of white following a 5-1 victory over the Dodgers, which completed a three-game sweep.

“The other one was leaking,” Nola said. “I ran out of [fog] juice, so I bought some other juice and it was weak. Wheels’ locker was getting sticky and stuff because it was leaking.”

Nola looked over at the new machine.

“That thing is nice,” he said.

The Phillies (61-32) played nicely this week, taking a 6 1/2-game lead over Los Angeles (55-39) for the best record in the National League.

“Coming off the Braves series and straight into the Dodgers, it’s a big test for us to see where we stand right now,” outfielder Brandon Marsh said. “I think we held our own. Yeah, I’d be lying if I said we didn’t wake up a little differently for games like this. This is why we play the game. Dodgers-Phillies. It’s what it’s all about.”

Is there such a thing as a statement series in early July? Maybe. The Phillies already believed they were one of baseball’s elite teams because they already had the best record in the Majors.

They already believed they can win the World Series.

The sweep only reaffirmed those beliefs.

“We don’t care who’s coming,” Johan Rojas said through the team’s interpreter. “We don’t care who we are playing. We’re just going to beat them. Anyone can come here and they’re going to end up losing the game or the series. The same goal with the World Series. We’ll go out and win it. We’re hungry to win.”

It also provided a harsh reality check for the Dodgers, who were shorthanded without Mookie Betts, Max Muncy, Tyler Glasnow, Yoshinobu Yamamoto and others.

“They’re clearly a better team than we are right now,” Dodgers manager Dave Roberts said. “We really didn’t do much well this series. Starting pitching, defense, we had a mistake tonight on the bases. Situational hitting, getting hits — all that kind of stuff, we were outplayed. It’s certainly … I know where we’re at right now.”

Trea Turner continued to swing a hot bat. He hit a solo home run to right-center field in the first inning to give the Phillies a 1-0 lead. It was his sixth home run in his past nine games, and his second in the series.

Marsh homered in the second to make it 2-0. He also homered twice in the series.

Nola (11-4, 3.38 ERA) allowed four hits and one run in six innings while striking out nine and walking two. He held Shohei Ohtani hitless in three at-bats. He struck out Ohtani swinging on a 1-2 curveball with the bases loaded and one out in the second.

The pitch before was a 95.5 mph fastball inside. It was tied for Nola’s hardest pitch of the season.

“I wanted to either hit the corner there or miss inside to set that curveball up,” Nola said. “It worked. He’s quick in there, too. I didn’t want to leave the ball over the plate. That was the first time I faced him. He’s a big man. He’s a big guy in the box. I tried to lock in as best as possible.”

There were plenty of fun at-bats this week involving Ohtani, who went 3-for-10 with one RBI, one walk and four strikeouts. He did not have an extra-base hit.

Wheeler struck out Ohtani on a 97.6 mph fastball in the first inning on Tuesday night to open the series. It was tied for his sixth-hardest pitch of the season. Matt Strahm struck out Ohtani swinging on a 1-2 slider with runners at the corners and one out in the seventh on Wednesday night.

“Keeping those guys in the ballpark is key,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “I just think our guys executed at the right time.”

Rojas singled to left with a drawn-in infield in the sixth inning to plate a run. He later ran 100 feet to make an incredible catch in left-center field in the seventh.

With a catch probability of 50%, according to Statcast, it was the sixth-lowest catch probability of any play made by Rojas this season.

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

The Phillies and Dodgers will meet again from Aug. 5-7 at Dodger Stadium. It will be L.A.’s opportunity to answer back.

“There’s a lot of baseball left,” Nola said.