Game result and context
Washington Nationals beat Los Angeles Angels 6-5 in 10 innings, stay alive in wild-card race
The Nationals won 6-5 in 10 innings after the Angels scored three runs in the eighth and two in the ninth to briefly take the lead. Washington tied it in the ninth and won it in the 10th. Andrew Alvarez threw seven scoreless innings with eight strikeouts. Vaughn Grissom homered for Los Angeles.
Final result
The Washington Nationals beat the Los Angeles Angels 6-5 in 10 innings on September 12, 2026, at Nationals Park. Attendance was 25,713.
Washington improved to 69-81. Los Angeles fell to 56-92.
How the game changed
For seven innings, the game belonged to Washington. The Nationals scored once in the first and three more times in the second for a four-run cushion, and Andrew Alvarez held the Angels scoreless through seven.
The eighth inning changed that. Los Angeles scored three times in the top half, two of them on a home run by Vaughn Grissom, to cut the deficit to one. The Angels then scored twice more in the top of the ninth and led for the first time.
Washington answered right away with a run in the bottom of the ninth to tie it. The Nationals pushed across the deciding run in the bottom of the 10th to end the game.
Key performances
Alvarez allowed no earned runs over 7.0 innings and struck out eight. Abimelec Ortiz had two hits in two at-bats, scored a run and drove in two. CJ Abrams had two hits in five at-bats with a run scored and an RBI.
For the Angels, Grissom had one hit in five at-bats, and that hit was a two-run homer in the eighth, the only home run of the game. Denzer Guzman had a hit, a run and an RBI in three at-bats. On the mound for Los Angeles, Walbert Ureña pitched 6.0 innings, struck out seven and allowed four earned runs.
Season and playoff context
The Nationals are fifth in their division, 19.5 games back, and have been eliminated from the division race. They are 10th in the wild-card standings, 12.0 games back, with a wild-card elimination number of 1, so the win kept them alive for at least one more day.
The Angels are fifth in their division and 12th in the wild-card standings. They trail by 18.5 games in both races and have been eliminated from each.
Series context
This was the second game of a three-game regular-season series between the two clubs.