Nationals 4, Giants 1: Doug Fister scattered four hits over seven scoreless innings and Bryce Harper belted a solo homer as visiting Washington staved off elimination by winning Game 3 of the best-of-five National League Division Series.

Harper joined Ian Desmond by scoring on Madison Bumgarner's throwing error and Asdrubal Cabrera added an RBI single in a three-run seventh inning for the Nationals, who will look to even the set when they play Game 4 in San Francisco on Tuesday. Anthony Rendon ripped a pair of singles and improved to 7-for-15 in the postseason while Denard Span also recorded two hits after going 0-for-11 in the first two contests of the series.

After tossing a shutout against Pittsburgh in the wild-card game, Bumgarner (0-1) saw his playoff scoreless streak end at 22 innings on his throwing error and exited after allowing three runs - two earned - and six hits in seven frames for the Giants, who had their 10-game postseason winning streak snapped. Pablo Sandoval singled in the second inning to extend his playoff hitting streak to a franchise-best 14 games before adding another to lead off the ninth.

Washington finally broke through in the seventh after being held scoreless since the third frame of Saturday's 18-inning, 2-1 loss. Desmond singled and Harper worked a five-pitch walk to begin the frame, and both scored after Bumgarner's throw sailed wide of third baseman Sandoval following Wilson Ramos' two-strike bunt.

Ramos advanced to second on the play and came around to score when Cabrera singled to left field, giving Fister (1-0) and the Nationals a 3-0 lead. Harper homered for the second time in the series to lead off the ninth and Drew Storen yielded a sacrifice fly by Brandon Crawford in the bottom of the inning before securing the victory.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Sandoval's hitting streak is one shy of the NL record, which is held by Atlanta OF Marquis Grissom (1995-96), while Hank Bauer (1956-58), Derek Jeter (1998-99) and Manny Ramirez (2003-04) share the major-league mark of 17 straight postseason contests. ... Bumgarner's postseason scoreless streak fell short of the franchise record, which is held by Christy Mathewson (28 innings). ... San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt, who recorded two singles, is 7-for-17 with one homer, two runs scored and five RBIs in the postseason.