Winning the sweepstakes

He had to run.

Jeff Kent said he was convinced of that the instant he saw Austin Kearns move a step deeper into right field.

And run he did, tagging up on Shea Hillenbrand’s fly ball and scoring on a play that was as close as the game itself, a 10-9 victory for the Dodgers over the Washington Nationals on Wednesday that wasn’t decided until Kent slid right of home plate and reached out to swipe it with his left hand in the bottom of the 12th inning.

The dugout emptied and Kent was mobbed at the plate.

The victory was the fourth in a row for the Dodgers, who started the day by announcing they had claimed starting pitcher Esteban Loaiza off waivers from the Oakland Athletics. Their three one-run wins over the Nationals marked their first series sweep since they took three from San Francisco in their first games out of the All-Star break.

“You have to be aggressive,” Kent said. “And if aggressive means if you get thrown out, so be it. But you’ve got to push, you’ve got to keep pushing.”

Especially with a month remaining in the regular season and a 10-game trip coming up that starts Friday in San Diego.

“That’s just the signature of Jeff Kent, the way he’s played the game his whole career,” Hillenbrand said. “That’s awesome for him to tag up and give it all he’s got and to go head-first into home plate. He doesn’t care. He’s going to sacrifice himself. He got hit in the head the other night and came back and played the next day. Not many guys would do that.”

Kent was the Dodgers’ offensive engine in the series, which immediately followed his being hit in the head by a pitch in New York. He was seven for 11 with six runs, including four for five with two doubles and three runs Wednesday.

What the latest victories indicate about the Dodgers’ postseason ambitions remains a mystery. Washington sits at the bottom of the NL East.

“We’ll see how good we are,” Kent said.

Manager Grady Little said something similar.

But Little also said his team demonstrated its resolve.

The Dodgers, who were down, 4-0, in the top of the second inning, entered the sixth trailing, 8-3, but emerged from it tied, the runs coming on a bases-clearing double by James Loney and a two-run home run by Hillenbrand.

They fell behind by a run in the seventh but leveled the score again on a solo shot by Matt Kemp to right.

The comebacks allowed Brad Penny to avoid losing for the fourth time in five decisions. Penny, who Little said looked fatigued, gave up six runs and eight hits in five innings.

Penny’s early exit, coupled with the game’s extension, forced Little to use six relievers. Closer Takashi Saito came out of the bullpen for the fourth time in as many days, pitching a scoreless ninth inning. Scott Proctor pitched the last three innings -- his 150th appearance over the last two seasons -- to pick up the win.

Proctor survived a 12th-inning scare, when he had runners on the corner with one out. Throwing a changeup that catcher Russell Martin had called, Proctor got Robert Fick to ground into a double play.

“I was just concentrating on one pitch, trying not to get carried away, trying not to overthrow,” Proctor said. “That was all Russell. He put down the sign and I went with it.”

That set the stage for Kent.

After reaching third on Martin’s one-out double, Kent said he had two options when heading home: to collide with catcher Jesus Flores or to slide head-first and reach for the plate. He chose the latter when Flores moved toward the first base line.

Was he glad to avoid the collision? “Absolutely,” Kent said. “I probably would have been the one to get hurt.”

Times staff writer Kevin Baxter contributed to this report.

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dylan.hernandez@latimes.com