SAN FRANCISCO Doug Fister pitched seven shutout innings and the Washington Nationals took advantage of Madison Bumgarners one off-target throw, staving off elimination in the NL Division Series with a 4-1 win against the San Francisco Giants on Monday.
Fister dazzled again in San Francisco, helping the Nationals cut their deficit to 2-1 in the best-of-five series and ending the Giants 10-game postseason winning streak that started with Game 5 of the 2012 NL Championship Series against St. Louis.
Washington scored two runs on Bumgarners throwing error in the seventh inning to end the aces 21-inning scoreless streak. Bryce Harper punctuated the victory with a solo homer in the ninth.
Really it came down to every pitch, Fister said. Fortunately a ball bounced our way.
Drew Storen allowed to the first two batters to reach in the bottom of the ninth but shook off his postseason struggles, allowing a run in closing it out as Washington forced a Game 4 on Tuesday night.
Now, the 96-win Nationals will send left-hander Gio Gonzalez up against San Francisco right-hander Ryan Vogelsong.
On a day Bumgarner had been nearly untouchable, his 21-inning postseason scoreless streak ended on his own miscue. Now, the Giants must wait another day to try to eliminate the Nationals, who trail 2-1 in the best-of-five series.
Bumgarner fielded Wilson Ramos two-strike sacrifice bunt between the mound and the first-base line and fired to third rather than going for the sure out at first.
Bumgarners throw sailed wide of Pablo Sandovals outstretched glove and bounced all the way to the tarp along the left-field wall before rolling over the bullpen mounds where two relievers were warming up.
Sandoval nearly did the splits trying to make the play and stayed down in pain as the two runs scored. Trainers checked on the third baseman and he remained in the game.
Asdrubal Cabrera followed with an RBI single. He spent the final eight innings watching the Giants 2-1, 18-inning victory Saturday night after his ejection for arguing a called third strike.
Fister outpitched Bumgarner at AT&T Park for the second time in four months after a June gem, leaving behind the frightening memory of his October outing here in Game 2 of the 2012 World Series. Fister took a line drive to the right side of his head that day while also opposing Bumgarner but stayed in the game and carried a shutout into the seventh before Detroit lost 2-0 and was swept.
Fister hardly needed that Japanese good luck figurine that appeared in the NL East champions dugout Monday morning courtesy of backup catcher Jose Lobaton. The right-hander, who grew up about two hours away in the Central Valley city of Merced, gave up four hits, struck out three and walked three.
Storen, the beleaguered closer who gave up the tying run in Game 2, allowed Brandon Crawfords sacrifice fly in the ninth before finishing the 2-hour, 47-minute game for his first save. It was a far cry from Game 2, which took a postseason record 6:23.
Five days after pitching a four-hitter in an 8-0 wild-card win at Pittsburgh, Bumgarner was on a roll again, this time for the orange towel-waving sellout home crowd of 43,627.
Ian Desmond singled to start the decisive seventh and Harper walked to bring up Ramos, who began the season as the Nationals cleanup hitter. Harper slid into home for the second run, hopped up and hollered in triumph.
Bumgarner hadnt given up a postseason run in 21 innings since Carlos Beltran homered in the fourth inning of the Giants Game 1 loss of the 2012 NLCS in St. Louis.
The pitcher had chances with the bat, too. He came to the plate with the bases loaded and two outs in the second to cheers of Bum! Bum! before striking out.
Sandoval extended his postseason hitting streak to 14 games with a leadoff single in the second, the longest streak in Giants postseason history and currently in baseball.
Brandon Belt was caught stealing in the fourth, only the second time anyone tried to steal against Fister all year.
Harpers three postseason homers are the fourth-most before age 22 behind Mickey Mantle, Miguel Cabrera and Andruw Jones all with four.
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