Giants need to be perfect, and this time, they weren't

SAN FRANCISCO – The San Francisco Giants built a 10-game postseason streak, the longest ever by a National League team, on a foundation of standout pitching, solid fielding and clutch hitting.

The first two elements typically go hand-in-hand, and in fact San Francisco committed just four errors in that stretch, and only one came in a game decided by less than five runs. In other words, the few times they made a mistake, they had plenty of room to make up for it, as they outscored their opponents 49-10 in the 10 games.

That hasn't been the case in their National League Division Series with the Washington Nationals, which featured 27 innings of stellar pitching and airtight defense on both sides – compressed into two games – before it moved to San Francisco. The Giants had won the two games by a run each, scoring a total of five runs.

In Monday's Game 3 they had even less margin for error, and their one miscue cost them.

With Nationals starter Doug Fister matching Madison Bumgarner zero-for-zero through six innings, this had the makings of a game where the first one to flinch would lose.

The Giants didn't just flinch, they blundered.

Their mishandling of a simple bunt in the seventh inning opened the door for a Nationals team that came in batting .160 for the series. By the time the seventh was over, Washington had a 3-0 lead and a new lease on life, and it went on to win 4-1 to trim its series deficit to 2-1.

There were miscues on several fronts on the critical play, which began with runners on first and second and no outs. Bumgarner fielded Wilson Ramos' bunt and, at Buster Posey's urging, fired toward third even though he had no chance of nabbing Ian Desmond. The wayward throw got past third baseman Pablo Sandoval and then eluded left fielder Travis Ishikawa, allowing not just Desmond but also Bryce Harper to score, with Ramos reaching second. He would score on Asdrubal Cabrera's single as the Nationals equaled their scoring output from the previous two games in one four-batter sequence.

"I made a mistake telling him to throw it to third,'' Posey acknowledged.

"I can't throw the ball away like that,'' Bumgarner said.

In a way, the costly miscue underscored how well the Giants had played against four different opponents in a 10-game spell that extended back to the 2012 postseason, when they won their second World Series in three years. Their pitching had been sensational, with half the wins coming via shutout as the starters compiled an 0.80 ERA and limited opposing batters to a .189 average.

But this year's edition of the Giants didn't display that kind of shutdown pitching. San Francisco starters ranked only 10th in the league in ERA at 3.74, and toward the end of the season only Bumgarner and Jake Peavy could be relied on to perform well consistently.

So for the Giants to get past the Nationals and make a deep run into the postseason, they're likely going to need their offense to reverse a trend that saw them score three, two and one runs in the first three games of the NLDS against the team that led the majors with a 3.03 ERA.

"They have a great pitching staff. They really have some tremendous arms,'' Hunter Pence said. "You understand that when you play these guys. They also played tremendous defense. That's a good combination.''

And it helped Washington keep the Giants off the board until the ninth inning, with Harper in particular coming through with a couple of excellent catches.

Only two teams have come back to win a Division Series after dropping the first two at home, so the Giants still like their chances with Ryan Vogelsong set to start against lefty Gio Gonzalez on Tuesday at AT&T Park. In four career postseason starts, Vogelsong has a 3-0 record and 1.09 ERA.

But the Giants also realize the style of baseball they need to play to prevail, and they got away from it long enough to lose Monday.

"Our team, especially in the postseason, has never been the type to win games 10-2,'' said leadoff hitter Gregor Blanco, who has one hit in 14 at-bats. "We always win by a run or two, and that's because of our pitching, which is our strength, our pitching and fielding. We usually do the little things well. We didn't today, but those things happen, especially in a high-pressure game like this. But you move on and try to win the next day.''

GALLERY: Giants vs. Nationals in the Division Series