Williams on Treinen's outing, Pirates' defense in Nationals' 3-1 loss

PITTSBURGH - The Nationals got a strong outing from Blake Treinen in his second major league start, and they got a good bit of solid contact off Pirates pitching. Unfortunately for them, they also got a 3-1 loss in the first game of this four-game set at PNC Park. Treinen allowed two runs on four hits over 5 2/3 innings, with five walks and four strikeouts. He allowed single runs in the third (when he retired the first two hitters, then walked Pirates starter Edinson Volquez, starting a stretch of four straight hitters reaching base) and the fifth (when Andrew McCutchen singled in Josh Harrison), but gave the Nats another quality effort. The Nationals' bats just couldn't carve out enough offense to earn the win. Harrison and McCutchen both made tremendous diving catches in the outfield, McCutchen's with two outs in the ninth, ending the game and leaving the potential tying run on base. Here's manager Matt Williams after the loss. On what happened with Treinen in the third inning, when he suddenly lost command: "I don't know. He had a curveball that spun out of his hand that hit McCutchen, but then he got out of the inning. That's just, that's baseball. That happens. It all started with a walk to the pitcher. Do things like that and sometimes it bites ya, and it did tonight. But he got out of it fine. Kept us in the game. We had a chance." On Treinen's outing as a whole: "It was good. It's nice to see him go out there and compete. Took him to 100 pitches and he was fine. Threw some good breaking balls and gave us a chance. Just didn't have enough offense tonight to get it done, but he pitched really well." On why Treinen's velocity dipped a bit later in his outing: "It's part of the process. He's still building, he's still learning how to do this. From everything we've seen, it's been really good and he's been able to go out and compete at the big league level and give us a chance to win. That's all we ask for." On McCutchen's grab: "He's the MVP for a lot of reasons. He's a good player, a really good player. He's not going to go after that ball unless he feels like he's got a chance to catch it. Good play." On whether he's concerned about Ross Detwiler, who allowed a run on two hits: "No. The ball, the double hung up there a little while, but it was placed perfectly. And then a ball off the end of the bat. I think he pitched well. The results don't say it, but he worked quicker, he had good tempo tonight. He gave up a run, but I think overall he pitched better tonight than he had in the last couple outings. So that's a good sign." On if he was going to Detwiler in the eighth in an effort to try and boost the lefty's confidence: "Yeah, and we can't use everybody in the bullpen every night. So it's a good opportunity. He had a chance with two outs and hit it off the end of the bat to score the run. But he made the pitch that he wanted to make and he got a base hit. That's OK. His tempo was good." On if the Nats thought about sending Nate McLouth when he reached with one out in the seventh: "He's got the green light. Franny (Kevin Frandsen), we got to 1-1, and if we get to a count, I can certainly put it on. But he's got the green light if he feels it. But Franny hit into a double play. Yeah, he's got the green light to go." On Harrison's grab: "Good catch. He sold out for that one."