Williams discusses Nats' 13-0 blowout win

Wins don't get much better from an all-around perspective than this one. The Nationals pounded out eight doubles (a single-game franchise high), 19 hits (a season-high) and 13 runs (also a season-high). Gio Gonzalez threw eight scoreless innings, extending his stretch of consecutive scoreless frames to 22. The defense again was sharp. It was all clicking for Matt Williams' ballclub in today's 13-0 win over the Cubs. Here's the skipper after the victory. On Gonzalez's changeup really looking sharp of late: "I don't see anything different. I think his curveball helps, too. His curveball helps that pitch. Certainly helps his fastball, regardless of velocity. Today he didn't have the velocity that he did in Chicago, but nonetheless, when you can throw your breaking stuff for strikes, then it makes your fastball look better, of course. And he's relied on it. He's had a really good feel the last three starts with both of them. And he's relied on them. If he gets in a jam, he can throw either of those. Can use either one of them as a strikeout pitch, which we saw today. It allows him to, I think, get earlier outs. His pitch count was pretty high the first couple innings, but then he settled in really nice and got through the eighth, which is a good sign for him." On the offensive effort today: "Everybody swung the bat really well. The gameplan going in knowing these two pitchers was to stay on the baseball to the opposite gap, and they did a nice job of that today, everybody. Really good team effort." On the Nats being healthy and being able to have games like this: "The ability is certainly there. That's a positive that we take from today. We can't expect to have days like this every day. But that ability's there. That tells us that we can stay in the game, we can come back, we can add on. All of those things we can do. So on any given day, we'll rely on any of those to win a game. The approach was really good today, and I think we have guys that have capability of doing that. So, happy about that. We've got a tough customer tomorrow (in Cubs starter Jake Arrieta), though. We'll need to have another good gameplan going in." On Wilson Ramos having great success throwing runners out this season: "I think it's a combination. On that particular stolen base, Gio was quicker to the plate in anticipation of them maybe going, gave him a good ball to handle and Wilson threw a strike down there. It's a combination of our pitchers giving them a chance, and our catchers being able to make the throw. But it all starts with the pitchers. It all starts with their times to home plate to give them a chance to throw somebody out. And they've worked hard on it. It was an emphasis for us in spring, and they've continued to work hard on being quicker to the plate and giving our catchers a chance." On Gonzalez coming back from the DL: "Much better. He wanted to go out for the ninth. I didn't want to push him certainly at 110, but the fact that he can go 110 and use all his pitches is a great sign. He's reported no problems with the shoulder. That last inning, it took him a little bit longer to get loose because it was a long inning. So that's a concern, especially with a pitcher that's got a lot of pitches, sending him back out. But he feels good. All of his pitches are working for him. So that's very positive."