SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner has been a star pitching — and even hitting — in 2014 for the Giants, but if his team eventually loses the NLDS, his season might be remembered for one misguided throw.
This series will continue, and for that the Nationals can largely thank Bumgarner, whose throwing error in the seventh inning helped bury the Giants in their 4-1 loss in Game 3 of the NLDS at AT&T Park on Monday.
Bumgarner fielded Wilson Ramos’ bunt in a scoreless game and threw wide of third base in what would have been a close play, allowing two runs to score.
“I just threw it away,” Bumgarner said. “I’m comfortable throwing to bases — it just got away from me.”
But catcher Buster Posey, who yelled for Bumgarner to try the play at third base, took some of the responsibility.
“I told him to throw to third,” Posey said. “The way it was bunted out, I thought we would have a chance, but we probably should have taken the out at first.”
Before the inning was complete, Asdrubal Cabrera delivered an RBI single for a third run, and the Giants’ 10-game postseason winning streak dating to 2012 was almost cooked.
The Nationals have life, which is all they could have wanted after leaving Washington in the early hours of Sunday, exhausted and beaten after losing in 18 innings Saturday night and down 0-2 in the series.
“We have to do things correctly like we did today,” Nationals manager Matt Williams said. “We have got to play good defense. We have got to execute, if necessary. We know we have to score some runs if we’re going to have a chance to do that.”
Bryce Harper’s solo home run in the ninth against Jean Machi gave the Nationals a cushion. Drew Storen, who blew the save in the ninth inning Saturday, added drama by allowing two hits leading off the ninth but recovered to get three outs with only a run scoring.
Nationals starter Doug Fister rebounded from early control problems to pitch seven shutout innings, in which he allowed four hits and three walks.
“I was a little amped up,” Fister said. “I had some energy and [was] trying to harness that and focus. It was a battle for myself, mechanical and everything else.”
With the game scoreless, Ian Desmond singled leading off the seventh before Harper walked. Ramos came to the plate with instructions to bunt and didn’t relent, even after Bumgarner got two strikes on him.
Ramos laid down a bunt in front of the mound that Bumgarner charged. The lefty fired to third base, but the throw sailed into the Giants’ bullpen area in foul territory. Desmond and Harper both scored on the play and Ramos reached second.
“[Bumgarner] tried to do a little too much there on the bunt,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “You take the out. He tried to rush it. He threw it away. He threw it away well, too.”
Bumgarner’s postseason scoreless streak, dating to 2012, had reached 22 innings before allowing those runs in the seventh. The lefty’s final line included three runs allowed, one unearned, on six hits with six strikeouts and one walk.
Brandon Belt singled in the fourth inning, but was thrown out attempting to steal second base. Fister, with his quick delivery to the plate, did not allow a stolen base during the regular season, becoming the first starting pitcher since 2010 to accomplish that feat.
Fister walked two batters in the second, including Travis Ishikawa to load the bases with two outs. But the right-hander recovered to strike out Bumgarner — who hit two grand slams during the regular season.
“[To] get three runs off Bumgarner was definitely huge, and being able to get that momentum to swing to us a little bit is definitely huge,” Harper said. “The ball needed to fall our way a little bit, and it did.”
