On the mound, the Nationals received a strong but brief outing from Joe Ross, who is working his way back from a shoulder injury. The righty exited after four innings, allowing only one run on a Jake Lamb RBI single in the third. After Sean Burnett recorded two outs in the fifth, Reynaldo Lopez shut down the D-backs until the ninth, when a two-run homer from Socrates Brito cut Washington's lead in half.
Mark Melancon recorded the final two outs to secure a win that drops the Nationals' magic number to two to clinch home-field advantage over the Dodgers in the National League Division Series.