PHILADELPHIA -- All Phillies slugger Kyle Schwarber could do was smile as he surveyed the situation while heading to the plate Sunday in the bottom of the ninth inning with the score tied against the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Phillies had pieced together an unlikely rally from a four-run deficit in the home half of the ninth, and Schwarber was stepping in against Cardinals closer Riley O'Brien.
It was at that point that Schwarber shot a grinning glance at teammate Trea Turner.
"I'm just there chuckling, laughing and smiling with Trea [about] how we got to that point," Schwarber said.
Schwarber then did his part.
"Then when the ball came off the bat, I stood there and watched. It was a little bit of a shock that we were able to do that in that fashion," Schwarber said of his major-league-leading 39th homer that gave the Phillies a 6-4 win. "But that's why you keep playing. That's why you play all the outs. Never give up, and keep fighting until the end."
The slugger fought to a 2-2 count, then took a swing that even he couldn't downplay.
"It was awesome," he said with a shrug. "Just a little bit of disbelief."
His homer traveled an estimated 459 feet over the Citizens Bank Park batter's eye as the Phillies won their ninth straight.
It was the Phillies' first walk-off home run since Schwarber accomplished the feat July 9, 2023, against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
And it was the most resounding blow during an August rebirth. In a few weeks' time, the Phillies have gone from falling behind in the National League wild-card race to erasing much of what seemed to be an insurmountable Atlanta lead in the NL East. Pending the Braves' game with Milwaukee Sunday night, the Phillies were 2½ games back in the division.
But there is no disbelief on Schwarber's part. He pointed out that he and four teammates all faced two-strike counts during their two-out at-bats in the ninth.
"I feel like it's a lot of really good baseball, complete baseball," he said. "It's not like we're out there just hitting homers and relying on that. I feel like there's a lot of things we're doing really well."
Bryce Harper, who has reached base safely in 25 straight games, had led off the ninth with a double, but two quick outs later, the fans started packing up. But J.T. Realmuto singled, Justin Crawford walked and utility man Edmundo Sosa hit a three-run double. Then came a tying single by seldom-used Bryan De La Cruz, followed by the winning stroke by Schwarber.
All of it was against O'Brien, who had stayed in the game even after a mound visit by manager Oli Marmot as Schwarber waited to hit.
It was the first Phillies win when trailing by four or more runs with two outs in the ninth inning since April 13, 1983, against the Mets.
"We're a winning team," Sosa said. "We're the Phillies. I can say we're really surprised, but when we're late in the game, we never stop fighting."
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.