WASHINGTON _ The Nationals had been waiting a game and almost a half for someone to deliver that "big hit" teams always talk about in the postseason.
They did not expect it to come from this player. Not in this way.
Backup catcher Jose Lobaton, who had one hit all season against left-handed pitching, smashed a go-ahead three-run home run off Rich Hill in the fourth inning on Sunday and the Nationals went on to beat the Dodgers, 5-2, to tie their NLDS at one game apiece.
Hill, who struck out seven in the first three innings, walked Daniel Murphy (3-for-3, two RBIs) to open the fourth before getting two outs on fly balls. Hill then hit slumping Danny Espinosa in the knee with a pitch to bring up Lobaton, who did not start Game 1.
Lobaton, batting with the pitcher on deck, hammered a hanging 1-and-1 curveball against a fierce wind and over the wall in left to erase a 2-0 Dodgers lead.
The Nationals are without No. 1 catcher Wilson Ramos, who tore the ACL in his right knee on Sept. 26. Lobaton, a switch hitter, was 1-for-15 this season against lefties, with his lone hit a home run against the Dodgers' Scott Kazmir on July 19.
Lobaton's long ball was also the first non-solo homer allowed by Hill all season.
The Nationals, who were 1-for-10 with runners in scoring position in Friday's 4-3 loss in Game 1, loaded the bases in the second inning with one out, but Lobaton grounded into a 1-2-3 double play. The sellout crowd of 43,826 at Nationals Park was getting a little antsy.
The Dodgers had taken a 2-0 lead on Corey Seager's first-inning home run off Tanner Roark and Josh Reddick's third-inning RBI single.
Roark only lasted 4 1/3 innings. Mark Rzepczynski got the win as five Nationals relievers threw 4 2/3 innings of shutout ball.
Murphy, the former Met, singled in a run in the fifth and another in the seventh amid chants of "MVP" from the red-clad Nationals fans.
Game 3 is Monday in Los Angeles after Saturday's rainout compressed the schedule.
