Williams discusses Nats' 2-1 loss

There have been games this season when the Nationals, like any team, really, just didn't square many balls up offensively, and had trouble scoring runs. Tonight wasn't one of those nights. Yes, the Nats only pushed across one run against Roberto Hernandez and Jonathan Papelbon tonight, but the minimal offensive production wasn't due to a lack of solid contact. The Nats ripped the ball all over the yard tonight, just got very little to show for it. Asdrubal Cabrera went 0-for-4 in his Nats debut, but he had three lineouts. Denard Span nearly took Hernandez's face off with a liner. Other hitters struck the ball well, and were unable to get it to fall. In all, I count seven lineouts and two balls to the warning track. And just one run. That's baseball. Here's manager Matt Williams after the loss: On Doug Fister's outing, in which he allowed one run over seven innings: "I think he pitched really well, with the exception of the homer. Marlon (Byrd) hit a ball the other way out of the ballpark. Late in the game like that, certainly upping his pitch count, he's not gonna get beat to his pull-side. And a good job of hitting." On the lack of hits despite the hard contact: "We wish we could steer it. I think Susan Sarandon said it, 'Hit 'em where they ain't.' We didn't do a very good job of that tonight. But it's like, what can you do. Once you hit it, you can't steer it. They just happened to be standing there. Eight or nine of them, probably. That's all you can do. They squared them up tonight, they just didn't find any holes." On if the Nats' home run drought is indicative of anything: "No, I don't think it means anything. Over the last three or four games, we've hit some balls hard right at people. That's just how the game goes sometimes. Can't change the approach just because it's not happening. Have to stay with it. Have to keep hitting it hard and take your chances. But they've got gloves on so they can catch them. It's one of those nights." On Cabrera striking the ball well tonight: "Yeah, three of them. First one, right at Howard for the double play. He lined up the middle and then he lined to left and they made plays on both of them. I think he hit the ball perfect. Made a nice play. Did well." On Fister adjusting after a shaky second inning: "In that particular inning, he was just missing high. Felt like he wasn't staying back enough. But he knows how to pitch. Once he got out of that inning, he was able to make it in between innings and go about his business. I think he pitched really well, again. We just couldn't muster tonight." On Bryce Harper's long ninth-inning at-bat against Papelbon that eventually ended in a strikeout: "Yeah, the more he sees, the better it is. We hope. He had a nice at-bat. Unfortunately it didn't turn out for him, but he saw a lot of pitches, he took balls off the plate. He fouled a few off. So yeah, it was a good at-bat." On why he waited until there were two outs in the ninth to pinch-run for Adam LaRoche: "Well, with Bryce out there, their outfield defense is deep. What they don't want there is a ball in the gap. With Asdrubal up, they're going to try to cut down the run at the plate. So if Bryce can get a base hit there, we're able to leave Adam in the game. But once there's two outs, they're going to play a little tighter, and we definitely have to score that run. So we decided to go ahead and pinch-run Danny for him to make sure we had better speed. If we tie that game there, then we take our chances later on. But with Bryce up there, they're playing much deeper." On Harper not being able to corral a fly ball to the track in the second: "I think he was on it. I haven't seen the replay yet. He was there. But the ball went off his glove. I haven't taken a look at it yet. But he was there fine. He was able to get a glove on it."