Por instantes, el partido estuvo muy reñido, pero luego un equipo se destacó.

English Translation

For moments, the match was very close, but then one team stood out.

It appears that por instantes has two fairly contradictory meanings:

1 Sin cesar, continuamente, sin intermisión.
2 De un momento a otro.

https://dle.rae.es/instante#4rcWbwB

Wiktionary only says “continuously”.

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1 Moment by moment, with each passing moment
2 At moments, at times

Not intuitive indeed!

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