Hearing from Williams, Treinen and Souza after Nats' 3-1 loss

The Nationals fell short in their quest to sweep the Braves, but they do leave Atlanta with a National League East title in their hands.

Washington finished the season series against Atlanta with an 8-11 record.

Tonight, rookie pitcher Blake Treinen pitched five scoreless innings, but the Nats fell to the Braves 3-1. The lone Nats run came on Steven Souza Jr.'s first major league home run.

Here's clubhouse reaction from manager Matt Williams, Treinen and Souza.

Williams:

On Treinen's performance: "He was good. He pitched really well. It's been a while since he's been five innings so we decided to limit it at that in anticipation of his next one. We didn't want to push him too far. He pitched really well."

On how well Treinen pitched despite starting on short notice: "When he throws the ball over the plate, the ball moves a lot. He threw some good sliders tonight. He pitched really well. He got a lot of grounders which is indicative of the ball sinking."

On how Treinen's performance could affect postseason roster: "It depends on how it's constructed from a starter's perspective. Short series, that's going to depend on a lot of things - guy's health ... From a reliever's perspective, a one-inning guy, or an inning-plus guy, it's a little different story. Every chance we've given him, he's pitched really well this year, which is good. He's still in the learning process of being a starter. He's served multiple roles for us. Right now it's important that we don't push him too hard. We potentially need him to make another start for us. We got a doubleheader coming up. Wanted to get him in there for mulitple inning stint - at least - and tonight was a good spot for him to get multiple innings. He could have gone out for a sixth, but he hadn't been there in a while so we decided not to."

On value of players like Michael A. Taylor playing in the stretch run: "It's important for them to experience last night, certainly. It's important for him to get at-bats. He's been all year with getting at-bats. Generally, in a September call-up situation, unless there's an injury you don't get as many. It's difficult to retain timing and rhythm and all of the things that are important. In a situation like tonight, we wanted to make sure to get him in there and get him some at-bats, give him four straight at-bats, let him play his natural position, which is center field. That's great experience for him. It wasn't a great night for him, but it was a wonderful experience. He'll take that moving forward and it will be useful for him."

On Souza's first major league home run: "That ball was hit a long way. He's got power to all fields. He had an incredible year in the minor leagues this year. The times that he was up, he really didn't get a whole lot of opportunity. He got some at-bats, but not a lot. He's like Michael. It's the same situation - it's good experience for them, being young players, and young promising players to be here and be part of it. There may be other opportunities as we go on with the rest of the season, too."

On if veterans will return to the lineup tomorrow: "I would imagine. It was a good day. I didn't want to use anybody. We had to make a choice on whether we play Hairy (Scott Hairston) or not, but we knew there would be a situation for him to come in and pinch-hit and be in the role that he generally is in so we decided to go that way. So we'll have to see everyone's health tomorrow, see how they're feeling after today. And re-evaluate when we get to the ballpark tomorrow. It was good to give those guys a night off. They needed it.

On whether early season struggles against the Braves were due to health: "It doesn't help when you don't have your full team. Nevertheless, you still have to make pitches, you still have to make plays and get hits and all of those things. Early on, they were really playing well. Justin (Upton) had a good month. Freddie (Freeman) is always difficult, Jason (Heyward) is always difficult. It's a question of us making some quality pitches too recently and having our full team back. That helps too. They've got the ability to beat you at anytime. One swing of the bat can change the landscape quickly."

Treinen:

On preparing for start on such short notice: "Just don't think about it and just do it. Gio (Gonzalez) told me that. It's really what just happened anyways. You can't really think about it. ... Just excited for the opportunity and try to make the most of it."

On his outing: "The goal is to go out there and get ahead of hitters and I didn't really do a good job of getting ahead of guys. I did make some pitches when I needed to and that's what I'm most happy about."

On his overall season with Nats: "I feel like I've had a pretty good year. The goal is to come in and fill the void when they need me to throw the rock, that's my job. So I come here and do the best that I can and put everything into it."

On his slider: "Couple of the pitches weren't really good spots. I got away with a couple of them. It's definitely evolved from a curveball to more of a slider, which is good for me. A lot of things look hard out of my hand and it's good to have something on the opposite side of the plate."

On his experience in 2014: "It's a huge blessing and God's good. He's always faithful. It's a great opportunity and just continue to try to make the most out of it."

Souza:

On his first major league homer: "Just went up there looking for a good pitch to hit. He threw me a couple of good pitches and ended up throwing me one in the middle of the plate."

On the opportunity he's had with the Nats this season: "I think that anytime we get an opportunity to play and make a start it's a great opportunity. Just trying to take advantage of it and trying to show what I can do on a day-to day basis."

On what is going through his head over the last few days: "Just thanking God. Thanking God for being here and being part of this. This whole experience this year has been a thrill. Having first being a part of a championship team, a team that clinched the division. Words can't explain how exciting it is."