Williams on Roark, LaRoche and more after Nats' 5-4 win

A 5-0 Nationals lead after three was trimmed to 5-3 in the fourth when the Pirates got to Tanner Roark.

They then got to Rafael Soriano in the ninth, and nearly completed a big road comeback.

Instead, Soriano walked the tightrope yet again and notched the save, his 29th of the season, giving the Nats a 5-4 win and their fourth straight victory.

Adam LaRoche and Bryce Harper each drove in two for the Nats, and Denard Span had three hits and two stolen bases. Soriano allowed three hits and a run in the ninth, making things more than interesting, and the Pirates had the potential tying run just 90 feet away, before Wilson Ramos corralled Josh Harrison's pop-up right by the screen for the final out.

Breathe, everyone.

Here's manager Matt Williams after the win:

On Soriano: "He's got the job done for us all year. That's three (games) in a row for him, so that's a pretty heavy workload, but he got through it tonight. We'll see how he feels tomorrow. But got to try and win that one tonight."

On Roark's outing, in which he allowed three runs over 5 2/3 innings: "A little off on his command tonight. Ball was up in the strike zone a bit. Marte hit a slider for the homer and then the ball just kind of elevated. But he battled. He got through the innings he needed to get through. Over 100 (pitches). So he battled that last one and got through it. He pitched well."

On what he liked about the Nats' offensive approach early: "With (Charlie) Morton, the ball's gonna sink, so the guys were concentrating on staying inside and hitting the ball the other way. We got some early chances and took advantage of them. The thing with you have to do Morton, if you've got a chance to get him early, you want to, because he settles in really nice and starts getting a feel for everything out there. And he can run through a lineup quickly. So we took advantage of that tonight."

On LaRoche's hot streak: "If you watch him take batting practice, he's really concentrating on hitting the ball shortstop side, and he did that once tonight. That just keeps him on the baseball. Yeah, he's hit some homers. He hit a homer left-center yesterday and hit a (ball) through short today. The first one he hit was pretty much up the middle. So he's staying on the ball better. You get those two lefties in their bullpen, it's difficult on any left-hander. But his first two at-bats were really good. Staying on the ball nice."

On how good Drew Storen and Tyler Clippard have been lately: "They've pitched really well all season. And it's comforting to know that if you get through the sixth, you've got those guys sitting down there ready to go. They've faced righties, lefties, it doesn't matter. They've been the guys we've gone to all year to get the ball to Sori. They've pitched really well."

On if players are starting to take a big-picture approach as September approaches: "I tell you, right now, they refuse to do that. And that's a really good sign. We need to win tomorrow. We don't look past that, and we can't. We can't afford to look past anything that's right in front of our face. They had a long night last night and they'll get some rest tonight, some much-needed rest, and come out tomorrow and see if we can win again. But we don't look any further than that."