WASHINGTON — The Washington Nationals' 100th loss had plenty of elements from the first 99.

A starter who needed five batters to record an out and was gone before the fourth inning. An unearned run in an inning that included both an outfielder's error and a wild pitch. A comeback that went for naught because the bullpen took yet another loss.

All in a mind-numbing 3 hours, 41 minutes.

Rafael Furcal hit a go-ahead homer in the eighth inning last night and the Los Angeles Dodgers beat Washington, 7-6, making the Nationals the first NL franchise since the 1970s to post triple digits in the "L" column for the second consecutive year.

"I think it's disappointing if you lose more than half your games. Period," said reliever Ron Villone, who gave up the winning homer in the eighth inning.

"Where do you go? Where do you look? You look at yourself first. Tonight it was me. Other nights everybody has had a chance to pull through or do the right things, and unfortunately for us it hasn't been that way too much. Talent is one thing, and not getting it done is another."

Furcal's drive off Villone (4-6) was his fourth hit of the game. Ramon Troncoso (5-4) pitched 1 1/3 innings to get the win, and Jonathan Broxton finished for his 36th save. The win reduced the Dodgers' magic number to one for clinching a playoff berth, which would give them back-to-back postseason appearances for the first time since 1995-96.

PADRES 5, ROCKIES 4

Nick Hundley homered to start the comeback and drove in the tiebreaking run with an eighth-inning single off Rafael Betancourt as visiting San Diego rallied past NL wild card-leading Colorado. The Rockies are 3 1/2 games ahead of idle Atlanta and four games up on San Francisco and Florida in the wild-card race.

CUBS 3, GIANTS 2

Jeff Baker hit a two-out, two-run homer in the top of the ninth inning and Chicago staved off playoff elimination for a day by beating San Francisco. Had the Cubs lost, the St. Louis Cardinals would have clinched the NL Central. The Cardinals begin a three-game series today against the NL wild card-leading Rockies.

PHILLIES 9, BREWERS 4

Jimmy Rollins capped a six-run fifth inning with a three-run homer, Ryan Howard drove in two runs and rookie J.A. Happ (11-4) gave up two runs and six hits in 5 2/3 innings to lead visiting Philadelphia over Milwaukee. Pedro Feliz had three hits, scored twice and drove in a run for Philadelphia, which amassed 14 hits and reduced its magic number to clinch the NL East to four.

REDS 4, PIRATES 1

Bronson Arroyo (14-13) gave up a run and five hits over seven innings and visiting Cincinnati completed its second four-game sweep of Pittsburgh in less than a month, pushing the Pirates (56-95) closer to a 100-loss season.