A throwing error by Madison Bumgarner broke a scoreless tie between the Washington Nationals and San Francisco Giants in Game 3 of the NLDS on Monday.
Ian Desmond led off the top of the 7th inning with a single and Bryce Harper walked to put runners at first and second with nobody out. Wilson Ramos laid down a sacrifice bunt and instead of going for the out at first, Bumgarner tried to throw to third. Pablo Sandoval stretched to make the catch on the force play but couldn’t reach the ball, and it went into left field allowing both runs to score. Bumgarner’s decision to go to third on the play was stupid because Desmond was already there and would have beaten a perfect throw.
Asdrubal Cabrera followed with an RBI single to drive in Ramos and make it 3-0.
After losing the first two games of the series by a run, this was just the sort of break the Nats needed. They got a solo home run from Bryce Harper and won 4-1 to extend the series to a fourth game.
