Williams discusses Nats' 6-1 loss
By Dan Kolko
The Nationals had a few chances early on, but couldn't cash in. Then the Mets opened things up late.
Mets righty Zach Wheeler settled in after a very shaky start and allowed just one run over 6 2/3 innings, and after brushing off a shaky start himself, Gio Gonzalez got into trouble in the seventh, and ended up surrendering four runs over six frames.
The Mets tacked on three runs in the seventh and one in the eighth, turning a tight 2-1 lead into a comfortable 6-1 win.
Here's manager Matt Williams after the loss:
On Gonzalez's outing: "Well, the hit to right, first-pitch breaking ball. And then the hit to the pitcher, not a bad pitch, but he got enough of it. Then he cruised pretty good through the middle innings. The last inning, the leadoff walk and the ball that Anthony couldn't get when he dove down the line, just, you know, that ball could easily be a double play ball, but it was just out of his reach. So we decided to get Drew and try to keep it where it was at."
On if he took Gonzalez out with Zach Wheeler coming up because Gonzalez falls off the mound, making it tougher for him to field a bunt: "Yeah. And Chris is a stolen base threat at second base, too. So we want to make sure we have a guy that can get to the ball and try to keep it there."
On the missed opportunities early on: "Yeah there's no common thread, there's no way to say, 'This is because, this is why.' I mean, I haven't seen a guy get hit by a batted ball in a while. Tried to skip over it. The ball was actually hit pretty hard by Loby and it skipped off the grass and just nicked him. It happens sometimes. Seems like it's going the wrong way the last couple days, but we can turn that around tomorrow."
On third base coach Bob Henley sending Jayson Werth home with no outs in the sixth: "It's fine. I thought Jayson had a good jump, he knows they're not playing behind him. He knows that they're swung over, that the shortstop is to his left and there's nobody there. I thought he had a good jump, I just thought it was a good throw, too. But that's the way we play. We're aggressive, we have been all year, and we can't stop now. So I have no issue."
On Werth's ankle: "He's fine. He had a little foot, ankle issue the other day and he's working through it. He caught it as he came out of the box the first at-bat. We came out and asked him and he was fine. He ran fine the rest of the night. He caught it coming out of the box, but he's good."
On where the comebacker hit Blake Treinen: "Just glanced the top of his head on his follow-through. So it just barely glanced him. Put him through all the tests in the dugout, but he's good. Scary."
On if the team is ready to announce a corresponding roster move for Matt Thornton yet: "Not yet. We'll do that one tomorrow. We'll have more information on that as we get here tomorrow."
On Gonzalez's outing: "Well, the hit to right, first-pitch breaking ball. And then the hit to the pitcher, not a bad pitch, but he got enough of it. Then he cruised pretty good through the middle innings. The last inning, the leadoff walk and the ball that Anthony couldn't get when he dove down the line, just, you know, that ball could easily be a double play ball, but it was just out of his reach. So we decided to get Drew and try to keep it where it was at."
On if he took Gonzalez out with Zach Wheeler coming up because Gonzalez falls off the mound, making it tougher for him to field a bunt: "Yeah. And Chris is a stolen base threat at second base, too. So we want to make sure we have a guy that can get to the ball and try to keep it there."
On the missed opportunities early on: "Yeah there's no common thread, there's no way to say, 'This is because, this is why.' I mean, I haven't seen a guy get hit by a batted ball in a while. Tried to skip over it. The ball was actually hit pretty hard by Loby and it skipped off the grass and just nicked him. It happens sometimes. Seems like it's going the wrong way the last couple days, but we can turn that around tomorrow."
On third base coach Bob Henley sending Jayson Werth home with no outs in the sixth: "It's fine. I thought Jayson had a good jump, he knows they're not playing behind him. He knows that they're swung over, that the shortstop is to his left and there's nobody there. I thought he had a good jump, I just thought it was a good throw, too. But that's the way we play. We're aggressive, we have been all year, and we can't stop now. So I have no issue."
On Werth's ankle: "He's fine. He had a little foot, ankle issue the other day and he's working through it. He caught it as he came out of the box the first at-bat. We came out and asked him and he was fine. He ran fine the rest of the night. He caught it coming out of the box, but he's good."
On where the comebacker hit Blake Treinen: "Just glanced the top of his head on his follow-through. So it just barely glanced him. Put him through all the tests in the dugout, but he's good. Scary."
On if the team is ready to announce a corresponding roster move for Matt Thornton yet: "Not yet. We'll do that one tomorrow. We'll have more information on that as we get here tomorrow."
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