PHILADELPHIA _ Marlins manager Don Mattingly prefers to not single out one game or series as more important than another.
The outlook helps keep his team singularly focused and emotionally balanced.
Nonetheless, Thursday's 9-3 win against the Phillies carried considerable impact. In winning three of four at Citizens Bank Park, the Marlins concluded the first trip of the second half 5-2, not only maintaining their hold on the second wild-card spot but also closing the gap on the first-place Nationals to 4{ games in the National League East.
There was historical significance as Ichiro Suzuki, starting in place of Giancarlo Stanton, had two more hits to move to within four of 3,000. He scratched out an infield single behind second base with two outs in the third, and added No. 2,996 with a clean single to right in the eighth.
Perhaps most important, the series-clinching win got struggling starter Tom Koehler back as a winning contributor.
Koehler (6-7) turned in his best performance in a month, matching a career high by completing eight innings while allowing only two hits _ home runs by Ryan Howard and Freddy Galvis.
Contemplating his 0-2 record and 7.88 in his previous four outings, Koehler said prior to the start, "Fortunately, the team has been playing outstanding. I just want to be part of all the good stuff that's going on."
Koehler showed his best stuff since he shut out the Rockies for six innings on two hits on June 19 for his latest win.
Notably, he issued only one walk Thursday while striking out five, got ahead of hitters and kept his pitch count under control. Also his command, throwing 75 of 110 pitches for strikes.
It was a major turnabout after giving up 29 hits in his previous 16 innings.
In addition, Koehler contributed at the plate, driving in a tack-on run in the eighth with a single, his second RBI of the season and third of his career.
Koehler had given up four runs in an inning in three recent outings. This time he was the recipient of that total in the fourth as a Marlins offense that scored only two runs on solo home runs off Phillies starters in the first three games came alive suddenly against Jerad Eickhoff.
Christian Yelich, who had one of the homers earlier in the series, added another on an opposite-field shot off Eickhoff (6-11) to open the fourth.
It tied Yelich's career high with nine (2014), and sparked a four-run inning. Dormant bats came alive with doubles by Marcell Ozuna, Chris Johnson and Adeiny Hechavarria.
Jeff Mathis drove in a run with a grounder to the right side, and Derek Dietrich scored one of the runs after being hit by a pitch for the 18th time this season, breaking a tie for the Marlins' season record with Carlos Delgado.
Dietrich, who had been 1-for-21 since the break, also had three hits.
Setting down the first 10 batters, Koehler was sailing along until Martin Prado committed an uncharacteristic error with one out in the fourth for the Phillies first base runner. It stung when Howard drove an opposite-field homer to left with two outs, the first hit off Koehler. The runs were unearned, but cut the Marlins lead in half.
The homer was the 40th of Howard's career off the Marlins. He has allowed more against all the other National League East teams, topped by 51 against the Braves.
The Marlins got the runs back in the fifth as Prado led off with a single and Yelich followed with another hit. Prado would score on a wild pitch. Yelich came home on an error when shortstop Galvis threw wildly in an attempt to get him at third on Dietrich's infield single.
The Marlins, who have played only three games at home since June 26, begin a 10-game stretch at Marlins Park on Friday. With seven of the games against the Mets and Cardinals, their closest pursuers in the wild-card race, it could be considered a big homestand.
Not necessarily, in Mattingly's view: "The way I look at it is they're all big. That's what we've asked our guys to do _ hold yourself to an expectation that we have to win every day and we expect to win every day. So that means every game is a big game."
