With the bases loaded, Hunter Strickland came on to make just his tenth overall Major League appearance and struck out Ian Desmond to end the threat.

Jeremy Affeldt finished off the Nationals in the seventh, and Sergio Romo pitched a scoreless eighth, before Santiago Casilla retired the side in order for the save, as the Giants held on to win by a score of 3–2.

The Giants continued to rally in the ninth when Buster Posey singled on the first pitch from closer Drew Storen, and Pablo Sandoval drove in Panik with a double.

Posey was thrown out at home plate on the same play, and manager Bruce Bochy called for a video review but it was unsuccessful and it ended the inning.

Brandon Belt finally broke the tie, launching a home run into the second deck in right field to lead off the 18th inning off of Tanner Roark.

The win marked the tenth consecutive postseason victory for the Giants, a streak extending back to the 2012 National League Championship Series.

Vogelsong held the Nationals hitless until the fifth inning, when Ian Desmond singled and Bryce Harper doubled him home to cut the Giants' lead to 2–1.

The Giants threatened against Nationals reliever Tanner Roark in the bottom of the fifth by loading the bases, but manager Matt Williams summoned Jerry Blevins to face Brandon Belt, whom he struck out to end the threat.

Left-hander Matt Thornton started the bottom of the seventh inning by getting the first out but allowed singles to Joe Panik and Buster Posey.

After issuing a two-out walk to Bryce Harper, Casilla retired Wilson Ramos on a groundout to eliminate the Nationals and send the Giants to their third NLCS in five years.

The Dodgers went ahead in the third when Yasiel Puig was hit by a pitch, moved to second on a groundout and scored on a single by Hanley Ramírez, who was then doubled in by Carl Crawford.

Reliever Pedro Báez came on in relief, walking Grichuk and then allowed a three-run homer to Matt Holliday to put the Cardinals ahead by four runs.

This tied the record of most runs scored in an inning in a Division series, eight, which the Baltimore Orioles accomplished just a day earlier in their ALDS matchup with the Detroit Tigers.

The Dodgers got a two-run homer by Adrián González in the eighth off of Randy Choate and also added one more in the ninth off of Trevor Rosenthal on Dee Gordon's RBI groundout with two on, but it was not enough as they lost the opener 10–9.

Matt Kemp hit a homer in the bottom of the inning off of Pat Neshek to put the Dodgers back ahead and Kenley Jansen shut the door in the ninth to even up the series.

However, the Dodgers were also only able to push across one run against Cardinals starter John Lackey when Yasiel Puig tripled to lead off the sixth and scored on Hanley Ramirez's two out double to tie the game.

This time it was Scott Elbert who allowed a two-run homer to Kolten Wong in the seventh, the difference maker in the 3–1 Cardinals win.