Williams meets with the media after Nats' 5-3 comeback win

PHILADELPHIA - Another comeback win. Make that nine on the season.

The Nationals trailed 3-0 after one inning of play when Jayson Werth's dropped fly ball in foul territory kept the inning alive for Marlon Byrd's three-run shot. They scored one in the third on Tyler Moore's homer to get on the board. They brought across another in the fifth on Denard Span's RBI groundout. (More on that later.)

Then came the eighth, when the Nats had five straight hits off Phillies relievers to open the inning, pushing across three runs and taking a 5-3 lead that they wouldn't relinquish.

Whatever it is about this team and late-inning wins, manager Matt Williams will take it.

"They just keep battling," Williams said. "Overcame a misplay. Jayson makes that play 99 times out of 100. Probabaly more than that. And then Marlon hit a nice pitch out of the ballpark, that put us down early. But they just keep fighting back. It's part of their DNA. ...

"It's just that they just keep trying, you know? It's easy to put it into cruise if you're behind and say, 'Oh, it's not our night.' But they don't do that. They fight. That's a very good sign. And coming back is a trait that I think they have. Certainly not ideal, we don't want that. But if we have to do it, then that's the position we're in. And they keep going."

Here's more from the skipper after the win:

On Moore, who is now 6-for-12 with three doubles and two homers off Cliff Lee in his career: "T-Mo hit a pretty good pitch out of the lineup and then stayed on a pitch and hit it to right field, too. So that's a very good sign for him and a very good sign for our club."

On Stephen Strasburg, who allowed the three runs (all unearned) in six innings: "Settled in. Really good changeups. Threw some sliders again tonight to get himself back in the count, and then his fastball was really good tonight, 95, 96 mph. So he felt good about it."

On Adam LaRoche, who left the game with a quad injury that has bothered him recently: "He's OK. He feels a little bit better today than he did in Houston. Still, it's bothering him. ... It's kind of an every day evaluation thing right now. But like I said, he feels better than he did in Houston, which is a good sign."

On Tyler Clippard's scoreless eighth: "First two batters weren't what he wanted, for sure, but then he settled in. Good fastball command. Struck one guy out with a curveball. Struck Marlon out with a curveball. And then used his changeup, too. It was a little missing his spots when he came in, but he settled in nice."

On Jerry Blevins' work tonight: "Yeah, big. If we don't do anything there in that inning then he's probably going out to face the lefties. And that's one of the advantages that you have with somebody like Jerry that can get you multiple innings. Turned out that we scored and we put Clip in his spot."

On Doug Fister, who made a rehab outing for Double-A Harrisburg tonight: "Came out fine, yeah. They said something about he got almost to his pitch count, 78. But everything was good."