PHOENIX -- Joe Maddon wants the Angels to be a winning team. But first, they had to get back to being .500.

The Halos continued their recent surge with an 8-7 come-from-behind win over the D-backs on Saturday afternoon at Chase Field. It was their fifth straight win and their 13th victory in the last 18 games. That stretch began when they were a season-low eight games below .500 at 19-27.

Now, the Angels are 32-32, the first time they’ve been at .500 since they were 13-13 on May 2. And according to their manager, it was an important mark to get back to, even still in mid-June.

“You’ve got to get there first, it’s just a mental thing and it’s a necessity,” Maddon said. “And then you start thinking five over, then 10 over, then 15 over. That’s how I’ve always done this. But you can’t get to five over, obviously, until you get back to even.”

The Halos trailed, 6-4, after seven innings. The comeback began when they scored one run in the eighth on a squeeze bunt by Kean Wong. Then, they tied the game on Anthony Rendon’s sacrifice fly against D-backs reliever Joakim Soria in the ninth.

The Angels continued to come through with big hits against Soria. José Iglesias belted a go-ahead RBI double, then Taylor Ward followed with an RBI two-bagger of his own to push the lead to 8-6. Closer Raisel Iglesias gave up a two-out solo homer to Josh Rojas in the bottom of the ninth, but he bounced back to record the save and secure a series victory.

“It’s great to be on the roll that we are on, everyone’s contributing,” Rendon said. “We’re having fun right now. When you do win, you have lots of fun.”

Rendon’s big day powered the offense, as he went 2-for-3 with a homer (his first since May 3) and four RBIs, the continuation of a strong June for the slugger. Through 10 games this month, he is batting .325 (13-for-40) with six extra-base hits and 16 RBIs.

Entering June, Rendon was hitting .213/.297/.320 through 33 games. He also ended May mired in a 4-for-39 slump. Now, the 31-year-old two-time Silver Slugger Award winner is starting to look more like the torrid hitter he’s been for the majority of his nine-year MLB career.

“Listen, I don’t care how long you’ve played and how much you’ve accomplished, confidence can wane at different moments, and when it takes a leave of absence, it’s tough, man,” Maddon said. “And then you get it back and you find your old patterns. … I want to believe that that game today -- because those were crispy off his bat -- that game today is one that can get him rolling.”

That could be key to the Halos continuing to have success. Because with Rendon swinging a hot bat, it makes a strong lineup even more powerful.

But Maddon knows it takes more than offense to win games, and he cited the team’s pitching as a big reason for their play of late. Although starter Alex Cobb went only three innings on Saturday (allowing five runs, all in the third), he was relieved by José Suarez, who tossed four innings of one-run ball and prevented the deficit from growing too large.

Cobb watched as Suarez, Alex Claudio and Iglesias combined for six quality innings and the offense rallied back. And by the postgame reaction from his teammates, there was never any doubt.

“The guys come in and you’re shaking their hands and it’s like business as usual, like they expected to do that,” Cobb said. “The look on their faces was like, ‘Yeah, we knew we were going to come back and win that game.’”

Maddon’s first season as manager didn’t go quite as hoped, as the Angels went 26-34 in 2020, missing out on the postseason. But he’s been around successful Halos clubs during his time on their staff from 1994-2005.

The Angels’ style of play over the past three weeks is what Maddon envisioned when he returned, and it reminds him of successful teams of the past.

“There’s a method, there needs to be a grittiness about Angels teams,” Maddon said. “That’s how we made our mark -- playing the game properly, relentless execution of fundamentals, you know you’re in for a hand-to-hand combat situation when you play against us. That’s what I’m looking for. That’s the vibe.”

Oh, and they’re also making this run without Mike Trout, arguably the best baseball player on the planet. If they’re playing this well without their superstar, they could become even tougher to beat when he returns from injury later this summer.