And then there are wins like Monday night, when the Phillies spent three innings watching a comfortable lead disappear one run at a time and still managed to walk out of Citizens Bank Park with exactly what they needed.
Another victory.
The Phillies held off the Miami Marlins, 6-5, extending their winning streak to four games and improving to 68-58. Cristopher Sánchez supplied six strong innings, Derek Hill drove in two runs, Alec Bohm delivered another late hit and Jhoan Duran survived a tense ninth for his 27th save.
It wasn't pretty.
Right now, pretty is optional.
What matters is the standings.
With San Diego losing to the Mets and Arizona getting routed by Boston, Philadelphia moved a full game ahead of the Padres and two ahead of the Diamondbacks in the National League Wild Card race. The Cubs remain comfortably atop the Wild Card standings, but the Phillies entered Tuesday holding the second spot — and, more importantly, creating a little breathing room above the playoff line.
That is what made Monday different.
The Phillies didn't merely beat Miami. They took advantage of a night when their closest competitors stumbled.
After spending much of the summer trying to generate momentum, they suddenly have some.
Sánchez again provided the foundation.
He worked six innings, allowing one run despite surrendering eight hits and three walks, striking out six. The victory improved him to 16-4 with a 2.51 ERA, and his dominance at Citizens Bank Park has become almost absurd: Sánchez is 11-1 with a 1.42 ERA and 110 strikeouts in 15 home starts this season.
He wasn't untouchable Monday.
He was simply difficult to break.
Miami repeatedly put traffic on the bases and managed only Griffin Conine's RBI single in the sixth. Sánchez stranded runners, worked around trouble and handed the bullpen a three-run cushion.
The Phillies built that cushion without relying on the home run.
Trea Turner and Luis Arraez delivered RBI singles in the third. After Miami cut the lead to 2-1, Hill answered with a run-scoring single in the sixth and Kyle Schwarber followed with a sacrifice fly.
That made it 4-1.
Then the game changed.
Jonathan Bowlan allowed a two-run double to Javier Sanoja in the seventh. Hill drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom half to restore a two-run lead, only for Brian Navarreto to homer off Brooks Raley in the eighth.
Bohm answered again with an RBI single.
Six runs. Four different innings with offense. Every time Miami moved closer, the Phillies created another little piece of separation.
They needed every bit of it.
Duran entered with a 6-4 lead in the ninth and surrendered an RBI single to Otto Lopez before finally inducing Leo Jiménez into a forceout to end it.
Game over.
Eventually.
The final three innings exposed the issue that still hangs over this team as September approaches. Sánchez left after six having allowed one run. The bullpen allowed four over the final three.
That's not a formula Philadelphia will want to test repeatedly in October.
But there is something else happening here, too.
For much of this season, the Phillies have found ways to turn manageable games into losses. A missed opportunity here. A bullpen stumble there. One inning that overwhelmed everything that came before it.
Monday, they kept answering.
Miami scored in the sixth. Philadelphia scored twice.
Miami scored twice in the seventh. Philadelphia scored again.
Miami homered in the eighth. Bohm drove home another insurance run.
Miami scored in the ninth.
Duran stopped it there.
The Phillies have now won four straight, and the timing could hardly be better. A season that has spent months refusing to settle into a comfortable rhythm is finally producing something resembling sustained momentum.
There are still warning signs. The bullpen remains capable of making every late lead feel temporary. The Phillies were outhit 14-11 Monday. A three-run advantage with Sánchez finished should not require nearly this much work.
But August baseball isn't graded for artistic merit.
The Phillies needed to beat Minnesota.
They did.
They needed to start this homestand by putting Miami — another team trying to stay relevant in the Wild Card picture — behind them.
They did that, too.
Thirty-six games remain.
And for the first time in a while, the Phillies aren't merely chasing a postseason spot.
They're holding one.
Now comes the harder part.
Keeping it.
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