LOS ANGELES -- Asked what needed to change for the Dodgers prior to Game 4 of the National League Division Series on Tuesday, Adrián González responded by saying, "It's just a matter of getting it done."
Then, in the first inning of a 6-5 win that evened the series and forced a Game 5 (Thursday at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on FS1), Gonzalez did exactly that.
The first baseman launched a two-run homer off Nationals starter Joe Ross into the right-field pavilion, giving Los Angeles yet another first-inning lead -- this time, 2-1. In doing so, Gonzalez seemingly shook himself out of a 2-for-13 slump to start the series.
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"I felt like the first few games, I was just trying to be too perfect, trying to go the other way a little too much," Gonzalez said. "So today, I just said, 'I'm just going to let it all out, and swing as hard as I can every time.' You know, if I run into something, hopefully something good comes out of it."
He ran into a 1-1 fastball from Ross, to be exact, and sent it a projected 404 feet, according to Statcast™. It was the sixth career postseason home run for Gonzalez -- all of which have come for Los Angeles (he also made the postseason as a member of the 2006 Padres).
In each of the first three games of the series it was Corey Seager who put the Dodgers on top with RBI extra-base hits -- including home runs in Games 1 and 2. On Tuesday, Seager went down swinging for the second out of the first.
Then, Ross plunked third baseman Justin Turner -- one of a postseason-record four hit batsmen for the Dodgers. Gonzalez made him pay.
Now, Gonzalez and the Dodgers get Cy Young candidate Max Scherzer in a winner-take-all Game 5 on Thursday.
"We beat him once already," Gonzalez said. "We know we can do it. We put some pretty good at-bats against him in Game 1, and we're confident that we can do that again."