Instant analysis: Dodgers 3, Nats 1 (10)

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Game in a nutshell: If you thought Friday night's game was frustrating, how about the first three innings of this one? The Nationals put six men on base against Zack Greinke and couldn't bring any of them home, leaving many in the sellout crowd of 41,816 to boo the home team. Fortunately, Gio Gonzalez was in top form, dominating over six scoreless innings. And then, the Nats finally got a big hit with a man in scoring position when pinch-hitter Roger Bernadina singled to right to score Chad Tracy in the bottom of the sixth. Unfortunately, Drew Storen immediately gave the run back in the top of the seventh on a pair of two-out hits. The game now tied, the Nationals had more opportunities to plate the go-ahead run and simply couldn't do it, frustrating the crowd even more. By the time the Dodgers scored twice off Craig Stammen in the top of the 10th, those who remained could barely muster the energy to react. The Nationals went down in the bottom of the inning, losing for the seventh time in nine games and falling below the .500 mark for the first time since June 19.

Hitting lowlight: Pick an inning. Any inning will suffice. The Nationals stranded the bases loaded in the first. They stranded two runners in the third. They stranded two in the seventh. They left the go-ahead runner on third base in the eighth. All told, the Nationals went 1-for-12 with runners in scoring position, leaving them 2-for-21 in this series and 6 for their last 66 in that situation. That simply won't cut it.

Pitching highlight: If ever a pitcher deserved better than his fate, it was tonight for Gonzalez. The left-hander was absolutely brilliant over six scoreless innings, matching his career high with 11 strikeouts. Gonzalez had good fastball command early in the count and then turned to his curveball time and again to strike the Dodgers out. He sat at only 98 pitches when the sixth inning ended, but with two on and two out in a scoreless game, Davey Johnson had to send a pinch-hitter to the plate. Bernadina delivered, briefly putting Gonzalez in line for the win. But that dissipated quickly when Storen allowed the tying run in the top of the seventh. Thus, a wasted effort for Gonzalez, who couldn't have pitched much better than this.

Key stat: Bernadina's sixth-inning RBI was only the eighth by a Nationals pinch-hitter this season. Only the Brewers (six) have fewer among NL clubs.

Up next: The series concludes with what, on paper, looks like the best pitching matchup of the weekend. All-Stars Jordan Zimmermann and Clayton Kershaw do battle at 1:35 p.m. Sunday.