MILWAUKEE -- Brewers left fielder Gabe Kapler won Sunday's 13-inning marathon game against the Nationals with one swing of the bat, giving the Brewers a walk-off win and guaranteeing the team would continue streaking for one more day.

Milwaukee has won seven of its first nine games to start the month of August and is a season-high 16 games over .500 entering play on Monday. One of the biggest reasons for the Brewers' recent success has been a surplus of late-inning heroics in close games.

Sunday's walk-off win marked the 21st time this season that a Brewers victory was decided in the team's last at-bat, which leads the Major Leagues. Milwaukee is also a Major League-best 23-10 (.697) in one-run games in 2008.

"It says we're a good team and we find ways to win, that's important," Brewers manager Ned Yost said. "When I first came here that was a focus of mine, to try and improve our one-run games. That means you're able to manufacture that one run you need to win a ballgame, and that is key."

Outfielder Corey Hart knows that close wins like Sunday's add up over the course of the season and are the result of players who can get the job done when it matters.

"We have the confidence to know that the game isn't over until it's over," Hart said. "We have guys that can get big hits and we have pitchers that are able to shut guys down, so we feel like the kind of team that can pull off those kinds of wins.

"It helps you out to know that by the end of the year, you are going to get a lot of extra wins because of it."

Luckily for the Brewers, they've been able to post a stellar record in one-run contests this season because Yost knows how rough it can become on a team if it is constantly suffering through tough-luck losses.

"They'll kill you," Yost said. "Because you're playing good games, but you just lose by one run, it stinks. Then you go back over the course of the game and you pick out two or three spots when you could have scored that one run and didn't, that makes it even worse.

"If you win the one-run game, it's over and you're done. But if you lose the one-run game, you're rehashing it nine times in your mind. Most of the time, if you lose a game by five runs the other team beat you, but if you lose a game by one run, you can go back and find where you beat yourself."

The Brewers haven't been beating themselves this season. They've had an improved defense from a year ago and both the starting rotation and bullpen have been able to limit opposing teams at the plate in recent weeks.

Milwaukee's starters are 6-2 so far in August with a 2.04 ERA (66 1/3 innings pitched, 15 earned runs) and have eight quality starts during that span. They have posted a 3.94 ERA on the season, good for third in the National League, and have kept the bullpen rested so that they can be effective.

Brewers relievers are 1-0 with two saves and a 2.70 ERA over their last seven games. Hart knows that the hitter's job is much easier when his opponents aren't able to put many runs on the board.

"Our pitching has been phenomenal, they're the reason we've been doing so well lately," Hart said. "Ever since we got CC [Sabathia], our whole rotation has stepped up and has given the bullpen enough rest so everyone is fresh and can do their job."

"You're not going to blow everyone out," Yost said. "You've got to have a good 'pen to [win close games], you have to have good defense to do it, it means you're a good team."