Bath showcased their strength in depth with a 31-26 win at Sale despite resting a number of star names ahead of the return of the Champions Cup next weekend.
Scotland fly-half Finn Russell was among those left out as Johann van Graan looked ahead to the last 16 clash against Saracens.
But he was still able to name 11 internationals in his 23-man squad, and the defending champions came away with a bonus-point victory.
Sale led 19-7 at the break after first-half yellow cards for Bath duo Joe Cokanasiga and Dan Frost.
After Frost opened the scoring, Sale hit back with three tries in 12 minutes from Tom O'Flaherty, Rob du Preez, Luke Cowan-Dickie.
But early scores in the second period from Louie Hennessey and Ethan Staddon tied the scores.
Tom Roebuck briefly restored the home side's advantage.
But Bath's strength off the bench proved decisive in the final quarter.
"Every week the squad makes a big impact in many different ways," said Van Graan
"The eight guys who came on made a big impact but let's not forget that it's a 23-man effort."
Bernard van der Linde raced onto Kepu Tuipulotu's hack downfield and Santiago Carreras slotted the conversion to tie the scores once more.
Alfie Barbeary then crossed for the match-winning try nine minutes from time.
Victory takes Bath to within one point of leaders Northampton.
Sale remains in seventh, a distant 23 points off the play-off places, after a ninth defeat in 12 games.
"I'm crestfallen. I'm just gutted for the amount of effort that the lads put in," said Sale director of rugby Alex Sanderson.
"It's seemingly a similar story to how the rest of the season has gone."