Cole's desire excites Williams, no issues with Strasburg in minor league work

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. - Nationals manager Matt Williams was pleased with the way A.J. Cole threw the ball at the start of today's 11-9 loss to the Mets. The 6-foot-5 right-hander gave up a solo home run to Curtis Granderson and three other hits along with two walks in 1 2/3 innings.

"I thought it was good," said Williams. "Mid-90s fastball. Probably threw more pitches earlier than he wanted to, but I thought he did really well."

Cole, 23, wasn't thrilled with his performance that included three consecutive hits followed by a walk to load the bases in the first before getting John Mayberry Jr. to ground into an inning-ending double play.

"I'm very hard on myself," said Cole. "There's some things that I will come away being happy with what I did. And then there's some things where I'm going to go back and work on those."

Williams addressed the talented youngster's disappointments after the game.

"It's never easy because everybody wants to be perfect," he said. "The problem is, perfection is unattainable in this game. That speaks to desire, though, the fact that he wants to be good and he prides himself on being good."

"I'm impressed with the way he got out of the inning in a jam there. I like that. I think it's great. He's going to find himself in that position at some point in his career again and if you have the tools to get out of it, it's great."

Danny Espinosa got a look at one of the game's talented young right arms in his first two at-bats when he faced Mets starter Jacob deGrom. Espinosa broke his bat on a grounder to second and walked in his two plate appearances against the reigning National League Rookie of the Year.

"He's getting there," Williams said of Espinosa. "His timing was good against a guy who's got a real live fastball and certainly one of the guys they'll look to in their rotation to get them wins. He laid off some breaking balls."

Espinosa also lined a solo home run over the left field wall in the sixth inning off left-hander Steven Matz. That's never been Espinosa's issue. He's a .271 career hitter from the right side facing lefties.

After giving up nine runs in the bottom of the eighth, the Nats battled back behind a Clint Robinson grand slam to pull within two before falling short. Williams was impressed with the fortitude his young bench players showed.

"They grind (and) that's good," he said. "They're into their at-bats. They take pride in it. Big swing from Clint today got us back into it and gave us a chance to tie the game up, so that's all you ask for."

Tyler Moore's bat has been sizzling this spring. He collected to more singles this afternoon on hard-hit balls in a 2-for-3 day. Moore, who has only played in the outfield so far, is 8-for-16 with a home run, a triple, four doubles and seven RBIs this spring.

Stephen Strasburg was scratched from today's start after having an ingrown toenail removed. He was still able to get his work in on the minor league side of camp, where the Nats are able to control the games. Williams said Strasburg threw three innings and around 50 pitches while facing Bryce Harper, Kevin Frandsen and various Nats minor leaguers. Williams doesn't expect any issues with Strasburg going forward.