The Washington Nationals avoided elimination on Monday night when they defeated the San Francisco Giants 4-1 at AT&T Park. Doug Fister blanked the Giants through seven innings of work and the Nationals' offense finally showed signs of life.
Madison Bumgarner of the Giants suffered his third loss in eight postseason starts after surrendering two earned runs in seven innings. But it wasn't until the seventh inning that the Nationals finally got to the left-hander. The Nats ripped off three runs in that inning, two of which were charged to Bumgarner, after only scattering four hits up until that point in the game.
Fister and Bumgarner may have experienced déjà vu during their matchup. The two pitchers faced each other at AT&T Park back on June 10. The Nationals also won that contest, after which Fister tossed seven scoreless innings as Bumgarner gave up two earned runs in seven innings. On Monday, the Nats scored two runs off of an error and another off of an RBI single from Asdrubal Cabrera in the seventh followed by a home run from Bryce Harper in the ninth, which was the only difference from the June 10 result of 2-1.
Although Washington stayed alive and will face the Giants again on Tuesday night at 9:07 p.m., they seem to be having issues with their bullpen, which isn't a good sign moving forward - especially with the way they're hitting. Drew Storen gave up two hits in his second straight appearance against the Giants, but this time he was charged with an earned run after Brandon Crawford hit a sacrifice fly to drive in Pablo Sandoval. Storen blew a save in Game 2 on Saturday, which forced 18 innings and ultimately ended in a loss for the Nationals.
But the Nationals will live to see another day, and manager Matt Williams will send left-hander Gio Gonzalez to the mound on Tuesday night to face Ryan Vogelsong.
"Being able to get that momentum swing to us a little bit is definitely huge," said Harper, in this ESPN article.
"We just needed one break," Storen added. "It's been a tough couple innings here to start and we got our break. It's just a matter of building on it, and we live to see another day."
Washington avoided the sweep after dropping two games at home and being stymied by Jake Peavy and Tim Hudson. Both teams' offenses have been fairly incompetent, so an offensive awakening could end up determining the series.
