Williams discusses Nats' 5-4 walk-off win, Gonzalez's health

Two walk-off wins in four days. I bet Matt Williams would like the victories to come a little easier, but he'll take them any way he can get 'em. The Nationals rallied from a 4-1 ninth-inning deficit with four runs in the bottom half of the ninth, picking up a big comeback win and salvaging a game in this three-game set with the Angels. Jose Lobaton led off the ninth with a solo homer, Jayson Werth knotted the score with a two-run double on a 3-0 count and Adam LaRoche then won it with a first-pitch RBI single to left, plating Werth with the winning run and touching off a massive celebration on the infield. Here's manager Matt Williams after the victory: On the win: "It doesn't look good being down in the ninth with their closer in there at any point. If they've shown anything, it's that they fight and give ourselves more opportunities. A couple of big hits from the middle of our order. It's good. They keep fighting all the way through." On Werth swinging 3-0 against Angels closer Ernesto Frieri: "I gave (the swing sign) to him. He doesn't swing unless he's given the 3-0. I trust him that if he's going to miss on a swing is that it's going to be hit hard to his pull side. And if it's not a pitch he can do it with, he's not going to swing at it. He's a veteran player. I trust the fact he's done it a couple times this year - one was a homer, one was a double. He's comfortable with it. He knows what pitch to pick and how to go about doing it." On LaRoche's game-winner off Fernando Salas: "He's seen him. He's had some at-bats against him. He certainly knows the situation of the game and what he wants to do there. We've seen that from Adam all year: the ability to hit the ball over the shortstop's head. They weren't really playing shortstop, but to hit the ball that way. That's the key for him to have success and driving runs in." On yet another comeback win: "That's why we play 27 of them. That's why we have to play every out. That's why it's important for us to keep giving ourselves the opportunity just for games like this." On why he pulled Gio Gonzalez after five-plus innings and just 83 pitches: "Going out for the fifth inning ... it's a cold night tonight. Gio had a little shoulder tightness tonight. Ordinarily I wouldn't take him out of the game there. But we want to make sure he's OK for our future, too. Cold and windy. He had a little bit of tightness. We wanted to make sure he's OK. That's the reason for that." On how Gonzalez is health-wise: "Fine. He's fine. His shoulder is a little tight. We want to make sure he's OK. It's not an ideal situation to take him out. Ordinarily, he'd stay in that game. We have to make sure that he's healthy." On Bryce Harper trying to bunt with two strikes in a sixth-inning at-bat: "Hey, Bryce is trying to get on base. He fouled the ball off. They gave him that opportunity and I'm not opposed to him laying a bunt down with two strikes. We've seen guys do it before. And if he gets that bunt down, it's a base hit. I'm not concerned about that. He's trying. He's trying to do things to help us win. He could easily hit a homer, too, but he's trying. He's thinking about ways to get on base to help us win. That's good." On his reaction to the eighth-inning play where Harper beat out a close play at first after Albert Pujols' fielding error: "He's safe at first base. That's all I care about. We're not asking him to go 100 percent all the time, as fast as he can possibly go at every single moment. Because not everybody does. But what we expect is that to give us a chance. And he gave us a chance on that play. The ball was mishandled by Albert. He kicked it in gear and got to first base. That's all I care about."