Williams discusses Nats' 9-2 romp over Marlins

MIAMI - The frustration that might have built up over the weekend when the Nationals got swept by the Braves melted away tonight, as the Nats pounded out 11 extra-base hits, got seven strong innings from Jordan Zimmermann and routed the Marlins 9-2.

Bryce Harper went 3-for-4 with two doubles and a triple before being pulled from the game due to what manager Matt Williams said was some minor quad tightness, Tyler Moore had three hits, including a homer, while Danny Espinosa and Anthony Rendon each had a double and a triple, and catcher Sandy Leon hit his first big league homer in the win.

Lots of hard-hit balls off Nationals bats tonight.

Here are Williams' comments after the victory:

On it being nice to get back on the winning track after a rough weekend: "Sure, yeah. That was a tough weekend, but they came out today, they played well, they played hard. That's a good thing."

On Harper: "He's just got a little tight quad that he's had for four or five days. The slip in between (second and third base) aggravated it a little bit. He's fine. I don't think there's any big issue. But we got him out just to make sure he could get some work done tonight. See how he is tomorrow, but I expect him in the lineup. I don't think there's a big issue."

On Zimmermann's outing: "Yeah, really good heater tonight. Threw both sides of the plate. Used his slider and his changeup a lot tonight, too. But everything was off the fastball, which is what he does best. He was good. He was aggressive. It's not hot out there, but it's humid tonight. Could've sent him out for an additional inning, but thought it was appropriate to get him out of there and get Blake in the game."

On seeing Leon go yard: "It's very cool. Everybody that has every played the game wishes that they would have that chance. And tonight, he got a chance to do that, and it's great to see."

On the Nats coming through with runners in scoring position after struggling in that area in Atlanta: "It's not gonna happen every day, but we want to keep creating those in every way that we can. Whether it's base hits or extra-base hits or the like, those opportunities are presented and eventually it will happen. Some days, it just doesn't, and we saw that over the weekend a bit. But today it did, so that's a good thing."

On how Denard Span (concussion) came through taking batting practice today: "OK. He's gonna come back in tomorrow and do some more, and I think on the last day here, we may send him back to see the doc just to make sure prior to us getting home. That's still up in the air, but we're thinking about doing that. Get him through tomorrow, see if he feels OK and send him back and have him evaluated again at home prior to our arrival the next day. But it was OK today, yeah."