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The Giants will take on the Cardinals in the NLCS for the second time in three years after dispatching of the NL-best Nationals.
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Joe Panik scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Nationals reliever Aaron Barrett in the bottom of the seventh inning and the Giants held on for a series-clinching 3-2 victory in Game 4 of the NLDS.
Panik led off the inning with a single, his second hit of the game and seventh of the postseason, and crossed the plate on an errant 1-1 fastball to Pablo Sandoval with the bases loaded. The Giants nearly scored a run later in the at-bat when Barrett threw an intentional ball over the head of Nationals catcher Wilson Ramos, but Giants star Buster Posey was cut down at the plate.
Sloppy play hurt the Nationals earlier in the game, as well. The Giants scored on a bases-loaded walk by Gregor Blanco and an RBI groundout by Panik after Washington starter Gio Gonzalez contributed to a couple of defensive miscues. Gonzalez was pulled after four innings, during which he surrendered the two unearned runs on four hits and a walk.
The eventual winning run came a half-inning after Nationals outfielder Bryce Harper tied the game with a solo home run that wrapped around the right field foul pole and landed in McCovey Cove. It was Harper's second run-scoring hit of the game and capped off an impressive series in which the 21-year-old phenom homered three times. Harper joined Mickey Mantle, Andruw Jones and Miguel Cabrera as the only players in MLB history to hit four postseason home runs before the age of 22.
The Nationals got the tying run on base in the ninth inning when Harper drew a two-out walk against Giants closer Santiago Casilla, but Wilson Ramos grounded out to end the game and the Nationals' season.
Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong was saddled with a no-decision but allowed only one run in 5⅔ innings, becoming the first pitcher in MLB history to give up no more than a run in each of his first five postseason starts.
San Francisco will face the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS.
