Williams meets with the media after Nats' 4-3 loss

PITTSBURGH - The Nationals have now dropped three in a row and four of their last five.

It's not for a lack of scoring opportunities, that's for sure.

The Nats had eight hits and drew six walks tonight. They had chances. They just couldn't come through enough times and dropped a 4-3 ballgame to the Pirates.

The makings of another late-game comeback were there, as the Nats scored once in the sixth and twice in the eighth to cut a 4-0 deficit to 4-3. But Ian Desmond's drive to the wall in right with two outs in the ninth was hauled in by Josh Harrison with a leaping grab to end the game and hand the Nats another tough defeat.

The Nats went 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and stranded 11 tonight.

Here's manager Matt Williams after the game:

On if it's frustrating the Nats aren't coming through with runners in scoring position: "It's not frustrating at all. It's part of the game to create those opportunities. We didn't come through tonight, but we've got to play tomorrow. It's good that we had those opportunities. So we'll go get them tomorrow again."

On Harrison's grab: "I don't know if he's on the wall or not. He jumped, but I don't know where it was. I haven't looked at it yet. But hey, we've got another one to play tomorrow, so we've got to get ready for that one."

On if he sees anything the Nats should be doing differently in their approach with runners on: "No. We stole a base tonight, we had opportunity. We put the righties up there against a lefty. Lefties against righties. They scored one more than we did, so that's all we can look at right now, other than trying to get 'em tomorrow, against a tough guy, too."

On what happened with Jordan Zimmermann early on: "Nothing. He had second and third early, he got the ground ball to make it two outs and then one went to the backstop. He pulled a slider. Then he hung a changeup to Alvarez for the home run for the four runs. It's good hitting on his part on a ball that was kind of up in the strike zone. Other than that, those two swings really were the only difference."

On Zimmermann's breaking stuff not being where he wants it: "He's using his curveball a lot more, probably because he doesn't have that feel. We talked about that earlier. He doesn't have the real feel for the slider, and that was the one that went to the backstop. But his curveball's been good. He's been able to throw that one for strikes. Tonight, he got hurt on a fastball for a double and then a changeup for a homer. He's been able to throw his breaking ball for strikes, it's just the slider hasn't quite been there yet. He'll continue to work on it."

On if he looks at the injured guys and says that they would be the ones up in the big situations with runners on: "I look at tonight as an example. Tonight we've got (Greg) Dobbs up there, bases loaded and gets a sac fly. Gets the job done. We put Franny (Kevin Frandsen) up there, he got the job done. We put Hairy (Scott Hairston) in there, he got the job done. They weren't three-run homers by any stretch, but they're doing their job. So I'm not gonna even think about going there, because it's not fair to the guys that are in here right now that are busting their tails every day to get this job done. We certainly would welcome and want those guys back as soon as possible, but it's not fair to that group that sits in that locker room there, to say, boy, if we had our guys. Because they're busting their fannies. We'll continue to do that."

On how Adam LaRoche came out of his rehab game, in which he went 1-for-4 for Double-A Harrisburg: "He got seven innings, four ABs. Walked, advanced on a ball in the dirt. Ran fine. All the reports are good. So we'll talk after the game about whether he needs another one or what we're gonna do. Haven't had a chance to do that yet."