SAN FRANCISCO — There was nobody the Washington Nationals would’ve rather had on the mound in Game 3 of the National League Division Series on Monday afternoon than Doug Fister. And for seven scoreless innings, he proved why.
Though Wilson Ramos’ two-strike bunt, Madison Bumgarner’s error and Bryce Harper’s towering home run all helped the Nationals pull ahead, they wouldn’t have even been in a position to win without Fister. The 6-foot-8 right-hander walked three batters but held the San Francisco Giants to four hits Monday, setting the stage for Washington to prolong its season with a 4-1 victory.
Fister is now 4-1 with a 1.78 earned-run average in eight career postseason starts, and his team is 7-1 during that span.
“Doug pitched great,” manager Matt Williams said. “He was in command all day with everything. You know, he just continues to compete for us, and we were able to manufacture something there.”
Fister had not pitched in 10 days after throwing a complete game in his final regular-season start. He pitched in an intrasquad scrimmage at Nationals Park before the NLDS began, but it paled in comparison to a real major league start.
As a result, he was a little bit rusty early in the game. His command wavered, resulting in a pair of walks that loaded the bases in the second inning.
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“I was a little, I guess you could say, strong as far as trying to overthrow it,” he said. “I was getting away from my plan a little bit and getting the ball up in the zone. Lucky for me, I had great defenders that sacrificed themselves to make great plays.”
Fister said he made adjustments as the game went on, scaling back on his velocity and establishing a rhythm.
“I was a little amped up,” he said. “I was focused, but I really had to pay attention to find focus today.”
The Giants only truly threatened in the second inning, but Fister struck out Bumgarner to wiggle out of the jam. As the game wore on, the right-hander started incorporating his curveball to keep the Giants off-balance.
“I want to hide my cards,” he explained. “I don’t want to show them everything early.”
From Giants manager Bruce Bochy’s perspective, it worked.
“He’s won 16 games for a reason,” Bochy said. “He was on top of his game.”
Fister watched from the dugout as Ramos laid down a bunt in the seventh, bringing in two runs. Then the right-hander returned to the mound in the bottom half of the inning and preserved the lead before making way for Tyler Clippard in the eighth.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Fister’s performance was that he lived up to the lofty standards set for him in a do-or-die game. There was never a doubt in the dugout that he would give the Nationals a chance to pull ahead. Each of his past seven postseason starts have been quality starts, the longest active streak in the major leagues.
“He was Doug,” Clippard said. “He was the guy who we’ve come to know all year long.”
• Tom Schad can be reached at tschad@washingtontimes.com.
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