HOUSTON -- The second Brandon Marsh squeezed the final out in his glove Monday night to send the Phillies to the postseason for the first time in 11 years, Zach Eflin pumped his fist.

Then, he turned and looked. Does he jump? Fall to his knees? Raise his arms? Toss his glove? Eflin had never been a closer before, much less a closer in a postseason-clincher. He didn’t know what to do. J.T. Realmuto jogged toward him. Realmuto put out his hand, but Eflin hugged him instead.

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Eflin said he earlier envisioned Realmuto sprinting from behind home plate and jumping into his arms.

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“We’ll save that for the World Series,” Eflin said before Tuesday night’s 10-0 loss to the Astros at Minute Maid Park.

Maybe. Who knows?

Eflin is a starter who became a reliever in September because a chronic knee issue sidelined him for two and a half months. He did not have enough time to build up arm strength to rejoin the rotation, so the Phils moved him to the ‘pen.

Eflin has pitched so well in the bullpen that Phillies interim manager Rob Thomson felt confident he could earn his first career save in the team’s most important game since Game 5 of the 2011 National League Division Series.

“It was fun,” Eflin said. “It kind of felt like any other inning. But it was awesome. I wanted the ball. Thoms gave it to me, and we clinched.”

Eflin has a 1.17 ERA (one earned run in 7 2/3 innings) in seven appearances as a reliever. He has struck out nine and allowed only four hits.

He could get more ninth-inning opportunities in the postseason.

“It all depends on the pocket leading up to it,” Thomson said. “Because if it was the back end of [the Astros’] lineup yesterday, it probably would have been Eflin in the eighth and ... [José] Alvarado in the ninth.”

Asked if Monday’s experience made him more confident that Eflin could handle the ninth inning again, Thomson shrugged.

“Yeah, I guess, because he did it,” Thomson said. “But I was confident in him all along.”

But it isn’t just the way Eflin is pitching that might influence Thomson’s postseason bullpen decisions. Right-handers Seranthony Domínguez and David Robertson have not been as sharp recently, so the way they throw the ball before Game 1 of the NL Wild Card Series on Friday could influence Thomson’s decision-making, too.

The Phillies are thinking about how they will use everybody on their 26-man NLWCS roster. They can carry no more than 13 pitchers. They have six starters, but they might only carry five. The starter that does not make the roster might be held back so he is ready to pitch a potential Game 1 of the NLDS.

Zack Wheeler, Aaron Nola and Ranger Suárez are set to pitch Games 1, 2 and 3 of the Wild Card Series. There is an off-day before Game 1 of the NLDS, making Wheeler unavailable if the NLWCS goes three games.

The best-case scenario, of course, is that the Phillies win the NLWCS in two games, so Suárez can start Game 1 of the NLDS. Suárez allowed six runs on seven hits in three innings in Tuesday’s loss. Thomson chalked it up to pitching 24 hours after the clincher with virtually nothing on the line. (It might explain why the offense got no-hit through eight innings, although the Phils played without five regulars who were getting a day off.) Suárez said he expects to bounce back whenever he makes his next start.

If Suárez can’t pitch Game 1 of the NLDS, it will be Bailey Falter, Noah Syndergaard or Kyle Gibson.

Left-hander Brad Hand is on the 15-day injured list because of tendinitis in his left elbow, but he threw a live batting practice session on Wednesday in Houston. It went well, and if he feels OK on Thursday, he could be activated and added to the roster.

It likely would put Eflin, Alvarado, Domínguez, Robertson, Hand, Andrew Bellatti, Connor Brogdon, Nick Nelson and two of the three remaining starters (Falter/Syndergaard/Gibson) in the bullpen. Falter pitched only one inning in Wednesday's regular-season finale against the Astros, indicating he could be in the bullpen for the Wild Card Series. That would narrow the race for the final spot to Syndergaard and Gibson.

With the Padres' win over the Giants on Tuesday, the Phils will play the Cardinals at St. Louis in the Wild Card Series.

Regardless, Eflin is ready.

“I could see myself, really, in any situation,” he said. “Whether it be closing or throwing multiple innings, however it may play out.”

Eflin knows this much. He will not be nervous. He said the ninth inning on Monday felt like any other inning to him.

How so?

“I'm pretty simple,” Eflin said. “I don't carry a lot of weight out there when I'm pitching. Honestly, I just imagine it being like a live BP in Spring Training or something. No stress. No nothing. I operate well when I do that.

“When the game gets too big in my head, I have some issues out there. I think I've done a pretty good job the last four or five years of really developing how to stay calm and stress-free out there. I'm not really worried about results. I'm just worried about pitch to pitch. When you simplify it like that, you get good results.”