They chose to look at the brighter side of life.

The result was one of the biggest wins of the season.

With a possible playoff collapse looming in the background, the Phillies snapped their five-game losing streak by rallying to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 4-3 on Matt Vierling’s bases-loaded ground ball single up the middle in the bottom of the tenth.

“It doesn’t get much better than that,” Vierling said. “The biggest thing is getting that win. We definitely needed it. We grinded all night.”

The Phillies (81-67) lead the Milwaukee Brewers (79-70) by 2.5 games in the race for the National League final wild-card spot. Philadelphia trailed 3-0 heading into the bottom of the eighth.

“Our team is really good at staying positive and trying to look at the bright side of things,” Vierling said. “It’s a choice. You have to choose to be positive. You have to choose to look at the bright side of things. We could have easily not done that. But no, we stayed positive and kept going.”

Vierling finished with a career-high five hits. He only played center field because Brandon Marsh was out with a knee injury. Vierling got the word midway through batting practice that he would start Wednesday night.

“I definitely found some holes tonight,” he said. “I didn’t hit all the balls hard.”

He stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one out in the 10th. Vierling hit a 1-1 sinker from Blue Jays reliever Adam Cimber. It was his first career walk-off hit. After the hit, the Phillies chased Vierling into short right field and ripped the jersey off his back in celebration.

“I hit that thing hard, but I hit it about two feet in front of home plate,” he said. “It just jumped right up the middle.”

There were a few other offensive heroes for Philadelphia.

J.T. Realmuto began the comeback with a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth. Dalton Gutherie came off the bench to hit an RBI single in the eighth and a pivotal bases-loaded walk in the 10th.

The Phillies began Wednesday with an added sense of urgency. The Brewers had beaten the New York Mets 6-0 Wednesday afternoon.

In addition to the win, the Phillies had another reason to feel hopeful after Wednesday's game and that was the successful the return of Phillies ace Zack Wheeler, who had been out with right forearm tendinitis, and was making his first start since Aug. 20. He was impressive from the start, allowing two hits and striking out three in four innings.

Wheeler threw 58 pitches, allowed two hits and no runs, struck out three and also impressed with his velocity in four innings.

His four-seam fastball averaged 97.9 mph. He threw nine pitches 98.5 mph or faster in the first two innings. In his previous 23 starts, he had thrown just five pitches faster than 98.5 mph.

A healthy Wheeler will boost Phillies chances of making the postseason and being successful if they get there.

“You want to come out healthy,” Wheeler said. “I was just getting back in the rhythm.”

Philadelphia hasn’t made the postseason since 2011. The Phillies were in contention to make the postseason from 2018-2021 but faded in September in each of those seasons.

Down 3-0, there was a sense of “here we go again” in the ballpark.

Instead, the Phillies flipped the narrative.

One could argue the Phillies were fortunate Wednesday.

Hard-hit balls seem to find Philadelphia gloves in the late innings.

And there’s still plenty to be concerned about.

Bryce Harper bounced back to the pitcher with the bases loaded for the final out in the fifth inning. He struck out swinging with runners on second and third to end the seventh.

Harper, who has struggled with his timing since returning from a fractured left thumb late last month, is batting .145 (10 for 69) with two home runs and five RBIs in September.

Harper isn’t the only Phillies player in the midst of a bad month.

The Blue Jays took the lead on Vladimir Guerrero Jr.’s three-run home run off reliever Seranthony Dominguez in the top of the eighth.

Dominguez has gotten just three outs and allowed eight runs and five hits in two outings since returning from right triceps tendinitis. Dominguez had allowed just eight runs in his first 48 outings this season.

But Harper and Dominguez's foibles are worries for another day. As the Monty Python theme song says "Always Look on the Bright Side of Life."

The Phillies begin Thursday with a magic number of 11 to make the postseason.

Their best trait all season has been its resiliency. They showed it again Wednesday.

“It’s par for the course with this group,” interim manager Rob Thomson said. “They just continue to fight and come back in games. We could have shut it down right there.”

The Phillies also displayed another trait of good teams - big hits and contributions from role players.

“That’s what they need to do,” Thomson said. “The big boys - you can’t rely on them all the time.”