PHILADELPHIA -- On Monday night, Pirates closer Felipe Vázquez briefly warmed up for a save situation that never presented itself and manager Clint Hurdle planned to use the left-hander in an inning that never came to be. When an opportunity arose on Tuesday, both men seized it.

Hurdle summoned Vazquez with two outs in the eighth inning of a tie game, then the Pirates rewarded their manager with a run and their closer with a win. Adam Frazier scored on a wild play in the ninth, and Vazquez nailed down the final four outs in Pittsburgh’s 5-4 win over the Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

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“Elite,” starter Steven Brault said of Vazquez. “If I had one word, it would be elite. He’s the man.”

Vazquez didn’t pitch in Monday’s series opener after recording the final four outs on Sunday, though the All-Star left-hander got loose late in the game and would have been called into duty if the game had extended to a 12th inning. Not pitching in Monday’s loss left him available for extra work on Tuesday.

With two outs in the eighth and the potential go-ahead run on second, Hurdle removed veteran lefty Francisco Liriano and called upon Vazquez to face Scott Kingery. Vazquez thought he had Kingery rung up on his sixth pitch, but it was called a ball. The lefty took a long walk around the mound, then unleashed another curveball to strike out Kingery to end the inning.

“He’s a special guy, Felipe is,” Hurdle said. “He just showed another reason why, to come in and cover four outs. He’s done it two out of three days, which is pretty strong as well.”

After Phils closer Hector Neris walked Frazier and Melky Cabrera with one out in the ninth, Kevin Newman hit into a potential inning-ending 4-6-3 double play -- except Rhys Hoskins didn’t catch Jean Segura’s relay throw to first base. Hoskins dropped it and swatted it into foul territory.

Hoskins didn’t offer any excuses, saying, “[I] just missed it. Clanked it.” The Pirates credited the speedy Newman for forcing the Phillies to quickly make a play. Either way, Hoskins’ mistake opened the door for the Bucs. Frazier hustled home and scored the go-ahead run on an awkward headfirst slide -- “just absolutely tackles the plate,” as Brault put it.

“I was pumped that he scored, but I looked at him and I was like, ‘What are you doing, man? What was that slide?’” said Bryan Reynolds, who hit a two-run homer in the first inning and was on deck when Frazier slid into home. “It all started with Newman busting it out of the box and making them make a good play.”

“We need to be aggressive. We need to take some risk. He was geared up to go,” Hurdle added, then he smiled. “The finish was a little rough. We’ll work on the landing at another time.”

Frazier’s heads-up baserunning put the Pirates exactly where they wanted to be -- leading with Vazquez on the mound.

“He has this different kind of confidence. It’s almost a cockiness that, ‘I’m the best player out here,’” Brault said. “Whenever he steps on the field, he believes he’s the best player out there. It shows. Because he is.”

The final three outs wouldn’t be easy, at least not for most pitchers, as Philadelphia was due to send up Hoskins followed by J.T. Realmuto and Bryce Harper. Vazquez didn’t do himself any favors, either, as he immediately fell into 3-0 counts against both Hoskins and Realmuto.

Vazquez fought his way back against Hoskins, who fouled off three consecutive 98 mph fastballs. Hoskins made contact with a fourth straight fastball, but Starling Marte easily settled under the fly ball for the first out.

Again behind in the count against Realmuto, Vazquez pushed back -- but not by blowing fastballs by him. He fired back-to-back sliders, both called strikes, then another slider that Realmuto hit harmlessly to Marte in center.

Up came Harper, once a teammate of Vazquez with the Nationals. Vazquez knew that if he left a pitch over the plate, Harper’s powerful uppercut swing would send the ball into the seats.

“If you miss a pitch with him, you know what’s going to happen,” Vazquez said. “You’ve got to stay sharp and make sure you execute the right pitches.”

Harper swung through two fastballs, one at 99 mph and the next at 101 mph. Then the Phillies’ $330 million man settled in, taking a fastball and a slider to even the count before fouling off two 101 mph heaters.

“I know Harper. He’s my friend,” Vazquez said. “As soon as he came in, he knew it was going to be fun. It was fun for me. I was laughing. I was having fun in that AB, I’m not going to lie.”

Look no further for proof than the seventh and final pitch of the at-bat. Vazquez is known for his triple-digit fastball and he’s seen opponents bat just .081 against his slider and whiff on 47.4 percent of his changeups this season. But Vazquez, a former starter in the Minor Leagues, isn’t limited to those three pitches.

The closer’s 27th pitch of the night was a curveball down in the zone. Harper went down swinging, nodding once as Vazquez turned and shouted behind the mound before celebrating the Bucs’ fourth win in their last five games.

“Anytime you’ve got a lead with Flip going out there, you’re confident. It’s almost a guarantee,” third baseman Colin Moran said. “You can’t say enough about the guy. He’s unbelievable. I’m just glad he’s on our team.”