Williams on Storen: "All in all, not as sharp as he would like to be"

Nationals third baseman Yunel Escobar was the hero tonight with a walk-off home run in the 10th inning to beat the Cardinals 2-1. But closer Drew Storen was unable to hold the 1-0 Nationals lead in the top of the ninth. He allowed an RBI single by Matt Holliday that evened the game. Matt Carpenter had started the Cardinals rally with a line single to left field.

Manager Matt Williams was not too concerned after the game, and broke down how St. Louis was able to get a couple of hits off of Storen.

"I think that Carpenter hit a breaking ball, Holliday hit a changeup I think," Williams said. "I don't know if he was as sharp as he wanted to be. Throwing strikes, but not necessarily where he wanted to. Pulled a couple of breaking balls in the dirt. All in all, not as sharp as he would like to be. Happens sometimes though, so we have to regroup and go get them again. Turned out our way tonight."

Catcher Wilson Ramos said it was just a pair of pitches from Storen that were a little bit off.

"He just missed two pitches in the middle of the zone," Ramos said. "But it happened in the game. We never put our head down. We fighting all game. We support what he did. We got eight guys in the lineup (who) can support the pitcher."

Reliever Tanner Roark came in for the seventh inning and was able to sustain the Nats' slim advantage. Did he like that kind of role?

"For sure. I didn't throw for a while, so it felt good to get out there and compete again," Roark said. "It's a one-run game. Just go out there and give all you got for as long as you can."

But in the ninth, the Cardinals rallied on those two hits. St. Louis relievers did a pretty good job as well, keeping the Nationals off the board from the seventh until the ninth. Escobar's third walk-off homer his career came off of Cardinals reliever Carlos Villanueva. It was a blown save for Storen, but Ramos believes his closer will be fine because of the teammates around him.

"Today was not a good day for him, but tomorrow is another day," Ramos said. "We have to support each other as a team. We have to play like a team."

Aaron Barrett notched the win with a scoreless 10th. The Nationals also forced the Cardinals to use six relievers in the first game of the series. Even if they aren't all taxed by Thursday, at least this gave Nationals hitters a chance to see them pitch early on in their matchup.

But the Nationals found a way to win the game with Escobar's homer continuing the good vibes that have produced five wins in six games.

"It's early in the season," left fielder Jayson Werth said. "We're trying to go out there and win every game we can, obviously. We've been rattling off some games here. Ever since I got back here, it's been pretty good.

"We're fine. Keep playing hard. Keep playing the way we know how and our fans keep showing up and we keep winning".

But it doesn't matter that it's the Cardinals, who had won five in a row?

"It don't matter who we play," Werth said.