PHILADELPHIA -- It began at the bottom, which is where the Phillies have started so many rallies this season.

Alec Bohm hit a one-out double in the second inning in Friday’s 7-2 victory over the Cardinals at Citizens Bank Park. Brandon Marsh followed with a single to put runners at the corners. Garrett Stubbs dropped a two-out double down the left-field line to score both runners to tie the game. Stubbs scored on Kyle Schwarber's ensuing double to give the Phillies the lead.

“To be on second base with Kyle Schwarber up is a good feeling,” Stubbs said, wearing his red pinstriped overalls.

Bohm hit his career-high 14th homer in the sixth. He batted sixth in Friday's lineup.

Marsh doubled in the fourth. He hit seventh.

Stubbs, who played for struggling starter J.T. Realmuto, hit ninth.

The Phillies' Nos. 6-9 hitters entered Friday with a .760 OPS, which ranked second in baseball behind the Braves (.781). Philadelphia's bottom three had a .747 OPS, which is the eighth-best mark in franchise history among their Nos. 7-9 hitters (non-pitchers) and the best mark since 2007 (.757 OPS).

That season-long production from the bottom of the lineup is a big reason why the Phillies hold the top NL Wild Card spot with 34 games to play. They left the ballpark with a three-game lead over the D-backs and Cubs -- and a 3 1/2-game lead over the Giants and Reds.

“I don’t think that our lineup really has any let up,” Stubbs said. “Obviously, we have some horses up there at the front, but it’s not like you get down to 7-8-9 and there’s nobody left.”

Bohm is batting .316 with seven home runs, 32 RBIs and an .863 OPS in his past 50 games. Marsh is batting .286 with eight homers, 44 RBIs and an .835 OPS this season, but in his last 34 games, he's batting .304 with a .913 OPS. Then there are the other hitters who have had big moments in those spots, including Stubbs, Johan Rojas, Cristian Pache, Edmundo Sosa, Kody Clemens, Jake Cave, Weston Wilson and more.

“I hope that they’re not being overlooked because the way they perform on the team is so important for us,” Schwarber said. “That’s how the lineup is constructed. One through nine is going to slap an at-bat on you. We don’t want to feel like we’re giving the pitcher a breather. We want to stay on him the whole time that we’re out there. When you can have a lineup that’s capable of doing that on a daily basis, it’s really impressive.”

Schwarber crushed a solo homer to right field in the seventh, giving the Phillies an MLB-best 45 homers this month. They hit a franchise record 46 homers in September 2019.

It secured Cristopher Sánchez’s second win of the season. He got hit hard in the first inning, allowing a two-run homer to Paul Goldschmidt to give St. Louis a 2-0 lead. The Cardinals put six balls in play in the first inning at 96.5 mph or harder. Four were 103.8 mph or harder.

But Sánchez regrouped. He allowed two hits and no runs in his final five innings.

“Credit to him,” Phillies manager Rob Thomson said. “This kid has grown up. He’s matured. A couple years ago, that may have gotten away from him, but he kept pitching.”

Sánchez relied less on the sinker after throwing the pitch nine times in his 18 first-inning pitches. He has thrown the pitch 47.7% of the time this year, more than his changeup (30.6%) and slider (21.7%).

But Sánchez threw 23 sinkers, 21 changeups and 21 sliders the rest of the way.

“One hundred percent,” Sánchez said when asked how much his faith in his changeup has helped him this season.

The changeup changed his night, while the bottom of the lineup came up big again.

“Early in the year, when our big guys were not normal -- they were scuffling a little bit -- those guys kind of carried us,” Thomson said. “That’s what this team is all about.”